Arabic Portraiture Today

Malu Halasa is an editor and journalist covering the culture and politics of the Middle East. She was invited to contribute to Chasing Mirrors and reflect on contemporary visual culture and notions of identity in Arabic portraiture and created a photo-essay Alternative Histories: Reflections on Middle Eastern and North African Portraiture, Photography, Art, Documentary, Illustration and Fashion Today (2011).

Malu Halasa co-edited The Secret Life of Syrian Lingerie: Intimacy and Design (2008), Kaveh Golestan: Recording the Truth in Iran (2007) and Creating Spaces of Freedom: Culture in Defiance (2002). She is series editor of Transit, an occasional book series showcasing new writing and images from Middle Eastern cities including Transit Beirut (2004) and Transit Tehran: Young Iran and Its Inspirations (2009). Former managing editor of the Prince Claus Fund Library and a founding editor of Tank magazine, she is editor at large for a new biannual journal, Portal 9: Literature and Critical Writing about the City, from Beirut. Malu lives in London.