Leslie Hakim-Dowek is a visual artist of Lebanese origin based in London. War and wilderness are over-arching themes in her practice as stories of warfare and our abuse of the environment both stem from man’s struggle to control, tame and own the wilderness. Often related to her homeland, her practice also focuses on issues of identity, migration and memory combining photography, archival material and creative writing. She is a senior lecturer in photography at the University of Portsmouth and was the visual advisor for the AHRC project Ottoman Pasts, Present Cities: Cosmopolitanism and Transcultural Memories Research project which included a conference, workshops and a group exhibition at the Peltz Gallery, Birkbeck College which she curated: East and West: Visualising the Ottoman City (online version of print catalogue: www.issuu.com/vtoc).
She has widely exhibited in the UK and abroad including solo and group exhibitions at Modern Art Oxford; Manchester City Art Gallery, Photofusion, Impressions Gallery, National Media Museum and Montreal Mois de la Photo.
