Join designers Mona Chalabi and Ahmad Barclay to discuss Visualizing Palestine: A Chronicle of Colonialism and the Struggle for Liberation. Published in September, the book is a striking collection of more than 200 full-color infographics and a vivid portrait of Israeli settler colonialism and the Palestinian struggle for freedom.

Mona and Ahmad will discuss their work as designers and visual storytellers, the importance of narrative shift, and the urgency of data visualisation in the current moment. The discussion will interrogate the role of media while exploring modes of repression and art as tool of resistance. Mona and Ahmad will be joined by Hazem Jamjoum, who will moderate the event, and Lama Tawakkol, who will act as chair.

The lecture is taking place in the Lucas Lecture Theatre, room S-2.18, in the Strand building.

Panel

AHMAD BARCLAY

Ahmad is an architect, designer, web developer, visual communicator engaged in a variety of projects involving data visualisation, visual storytelling and learning through play. He has led award-winning infographics projects as a partner with Visualizing Palestine, contributed to various publications, and has facilitated courses and workshops based on his practices in cities including Beirut, London, Lisbon, Amman and Bangalore. In his spare time he has been developing MyToyTown, a slot-together wooden play system for kids.

The common thread through his work is a desire to build impactful projects that engage with real people and communities. Each project is unique, and he finds himself constantly learning by doing, and doing his best to impart this knowledge to others. Ahmad is a frequent contributor and collaborator at Visualizing Palestine and his designs are featured in Visualizing Palestine: A Chronicle of Colonialism and the Struggle for Liberation.

MONA CHALABI

Mona is an award-winning writer and illustrator. Her work has earned her a Pulitzer Prize, a fellowship at the British Science Association, an Emmy nomination and recognition from the Royal Statistical Society. In recent years, her art has been exhibited at the Smithsonian Design Museum, the Tate, the Brooklyn Museum, the Design Museum, and the House of Illustration. She studied international relations in Paris and Arabic in Jordan.

Mona works beside windows, sometimes in her hometown, London, but usually in Brooklyn where she is writing a book about the ways we talk about money. She is also the executive producer and creative director of an upcoming animated TV show with Ramy Youssef, A24 and Amazon Studios.

Her writing and illustrations have been featured in the New York Times, the New Yorker and the Guardian where she is currently the data editor. Her video, audio, and production work has been featured on Netflix, NPR, the BBC, and National Geographic.

HAZEM JAMJOUM

Hazem is an educator and an editor with the recently-established publishing house Maqam Editions. His translation of Ghassan Kanafani's The Revolution of 1936-1939 in Palestine was published by 1804 Press in 2023, and his translation of Maya Abu al-Hayyat's No One Knows their Blood Type was released by the CSU Poetry Centre in October 2024.

LAMA TAWAKKOL

Lana is a lecturer in international political economy in the Department of European and International Studies at King's College London. She holds a PhD in political studies from Queen’s University, Canada. Prior to joining King’s, Lama was a lecturer in international relations at the University of Manchester.

Her research relates to international/global political economy, international relations and development. She explores capitalism and the global political economy, with particular focus on the power and politics of development policy and aid, the social inequalities it produces and its impacts on states and marginalized populations in the Middle East.