Doris
Bittar was born in Baghdad Iraq of Lebanese parents
and immigrated to the United States from Beirut as
a child. Bittar was featured in the Arab American National
Museum's inaugural exhibition in 2005 and actively
exhibits with Jewish, Israeli, Palestinian and Arab
American artists. Throughout her career, Bittar has
combined art-making and teaching with writing and activism.
Bittar's community and conflict-resolution work include
creating and facilitating Jewish-Palestinian dialogue
groups and writing on Middle Eastern art and politics.
Doris Bittar teaches at the University of California,
San Diego and taught at the American University of
Beirut. About Stripes and Stars, a series of paintings
begun after 9-11, Bittar states, "After the tragedies
of 9-11, I wanted to explore what happens when the
most profusely patterned flag in the world encounters
the most profusely patterned culture in the world.
The American flag is conveyed in varied states and
layered with Middle Eastern patterns. Stripes and Stars
marries seemingly oppositional motifs to probe intertwined
concepts of loyalty, identity, nationalism, and power."
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