About

zakharif (ornaments, embellishments, decoration) presents art, culture and history from the Arab and Islamic world and diasporic communities through a variety of viewpoints. Special attention is also given to the hybrid urban culture of contemporary multiethnic cities. It was originally born out of the wish to write about and present Islamic art and tradiional Arab culture from a new angle and with a less Orientalist attitude as it often is. This is the reason for the slightly anachronistic name of this site. The focus on contemporary art and culture came later. Run by Charlotte Bank with the occasional assistance of collaborators, the vision of zakharif is to ofer a platform for informaton and to inspire a true dialogue between "East" and "West" and work against the recent upsurge of xenophobism and racism in Europe. Unless otherwise stated, all photos are by Charlotte Bank follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/CharlotteBank zakharif on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=53115503968&ref=mf Blog: zakharifblog: http://zakharifblog.wordpress.com/ Notes In-Between: http://www.labforculture.org/en/members/charlotte-bank/51345		Charlotte Bank

Charlotte Bank hails from an international and multilingual background with a childhood and youth spent between Luxembourg, France, Italy, and Denmark. She studied Near Eastern archaeology, Assyriology and art history at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, from where she graduated in 2000 and has taken part in several archaeological excavations, expeditions and restoration projects in Europe and the Middle East (Oman, Syria, Yemen, Jordan). From 2001 to 2007 she was based in Denmark working as a guide at The David Collection (Museum of Islamic Art) and as an independent curator and lecturer on Islamic and Arab art and culture (among other at the National Danish Film School). She regularly publishes articles and essays and presents projects related to contemporary art, cinema and popular culture from the Arab world and diasporic communities. Charlotte Bank lives and works between Berlin, Germany, and Damascus, Syria. Main fields of research and interest are: Contemporary artistic and cultural practices in the Arab world Transcultural existence Hybridity and contemporary urban reality Reception of Islamic and Arab art and culture in Western high and popular culture

charlotte_bank@yahoo.de