Mohamad Abdouni

Mohamad Abdouni is an artist, photographer, filmmaker and curator based between Beirut and Istanbul. He is also Editor in-Chief and Creative Director of COLD CUTS magazine, the photo journal exploring queer cultures in the SWANA region. His personal endeavors tend to focus on the untold stories of Beirut and uncovering the rich yet eradicated queer histories of the Arab-speaking region through several documentaries and photo stories. As of 2019, he has dedicated his time to working on what is arguably the first archive of trans* histories in an Arab country, a project entitled Treat Me Like Your Mother: Trans* Histories From Beirut’s Forgotten Past. The collection resides safely today at the Arab Image Foundation. Recently, he has turned his gaze inward, delving deeper into family and childhood geographies. He examines the ideals of masculinity he was expected to embody, the strain these expectations place on family relationships, and the influence of colonial legacies.

His work has been exhibited namely at the Brooklyn Museum in New York, the FOAM Gallery in Amsterdam, L’Institut du Monde Arab, Art Basel by Paris+ and the Institute of Islamic Culture in Paris, Patel Brown in Toronto, and the Lyon Biennale amongst others. He is also the recipient of the 2023 LaFayette Anticipations prize at Art Basel. Mohamad’s films have been screened and awarded at festivals such as Eyes Wide Open and the Leeds Queer Film Festival in the UK, IQMF in Amsterdam, The Brooklyn Museum and Woodbury LGBTQ Film Festival in the US, and Pink Apple Schwullesbisches Lesbian & Gay Film Festival in Switzerland to name a few.