Dor Guez Munayer is a Jerusalemite artist of Christian Palestinian and Tunisian Jewish origin, founder of The Christian Palestinian Archive, and the director of SeaPort Residency.[1] [2] [3]
Dor Guez Munayer was born in Baka, Jerusalem.[4] On his father's side he is the grandson of a Holocaust survivor, and on his mother's side, the son of a Palestinian-Christian family from Lod, Munayer, who were among the 2% of the city population that remained in Lydda after the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, when the State of Israel was established.[5]
Guez's photography, video, mixed media, and essays explore the relationship between art, narrative, and memory. In his examination of personal and official accounts of the past, Guez raises questions about the role of art in narrating unwritten histories and re-contextualizing visual and written documents. Since 2006, his research has focused on archival materials of the region and his biracial background.
In 2006, Guez began working on his Palestinian archival project. Using photographs from the first half of the 20th century, the images also depict Guez's family from Jaffa and Lydda. After completing his studies, he exhibited solo exhibitions at the Petach Tikva Museum of Art (2009) and at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art (2011). The two exhibitions dealt with the ramifications of the 1948 war on the Palestinian minority in Israel.
Guez serves as the head of the MA in Fine Art program at Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design. On the occasion of Guez's solo exhibition at The ICA London in collaboration with the A. M. Qattan Foundation, Guez was described as "a leading critical and artistic voice from the Middle East".[6] Guez received his PhD in 2014.
Guez's work has been displayed in over thirty solo exhibitions worldwide; MAN Museum, Nuoro (2018); DEPO, Istanbul (2017); the Museum for Islamic Art, Jerusalem (2017); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Detroit (2016); the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London (2015); the Center for Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv (2015); the Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University, Massachusetts (2013); Artpace, San Antonio (2013); the Mosaic Rooms, Centre for Contemporary Arab Culture & Art, London (2013); the KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2010); and Petach Tikva Museum of Art, (2009). He has participated in group exhibitions at MODEM Museum (2018); The Arab World Institute (2017); the Buenos Aires Museum of Modern Art (2016); the North Coast Art Triennial, Denmark (2016); Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina (2015); the 17th, 18th, and 19th International Contemporary Art Festival Videobrasil, São Paulo (2011, 2013, 2015); the 8th Berlin Biennial for Contemporary Art (2014); Cleveland Institute of Art (2014); Triennale Museum, Milan (2014); Centre of Contemporary Art, Torun (2014); Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography (2014); MAXXI Museum, Rome (2013); Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2012); the 12th Istanbul Biennial (2011); and the Museum of Modern Art, Ljubljana (2010).
Dor Guez is openly gay. He is married to the American stylist Darnell Ross. The couple has a daughter and a son. Guez lives and works in Jaffa and New York City.
Guez's works are held in Tate Modern London, Center Pompidou Paris, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi,LACMA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Princeton University Art Museum, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, BNL collection Rome, The Jewish Museum New York, Rose Art Museum Boston, FRAC collection Marseille and Museum of Modern Art Bogota,Rose Art Museum (Boston), FRAC collection (Marseille), Israel Museum (Jerusalem), Schocken collection (Tel Aviv), BNL collection (Italy), Petach Tikva Museum of Art (Petach Tikva), Brandis University (Waltham), Recanati collection (New York), Beit Hatfutsot (Tel Aviv). He is represented by Goodman Gallery, London/Johannesburg/Cape Town/New York, Dvir Gallery, Paris/Brussels/Tel Aviv,[7] and Carlier-Gebauer Gallery, Berlin/Madrid.[8]
Guez is the recipient of the Ruth Ann and Nathan Perlmutter Artist in Residency Award, Rose Art Museum, Brandeis University; and International Artist in Residence Award, Artpace, San Antonio.