An Extraordinary Exhibit Looks to Shed Light on the Mystery of the Veil

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Oct 06, 2011, 03:45 ET

NEW YORK, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Hewitt Gallery of Art at Marymount Manhattan College in New York City, in collaboration with the New York office of Lebanese American University (LAU) and its Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW), has just opened the highly regarded exhibit Veil(s): a photographic overview. The exhibit, a collection of more than fifty photographs dating back to the 1800s, attempts to illustrate how the veil has been used by women of differing religions and economic classes throughout the world over the last century and a half.

The exhibit, which was originally produced by IWSAW, a leading academic research institute that has operated at LAU since 1973, depicts Christians, Jews and Muslims throughout the world, from the late 19th century to the present, wearing the veil for religious and personal reasons. LAU's staff in New York has worked closely with IWSAW in recent years to help bring the exhibit to various locations around the United States as a way to help raise awareness of how the veil has been used by women throughout history.

The former director of IWSAW Mona Chemali Khalaf, who originally created the exhibit, notes that the veil has become largely misunderstood. Her hope was that Veil(s) would "lead to a better understanding of the universality of the veil, resulting in more genuine freedom, and…tolerance."

Millie Burns, the director of The Hewitt Gallery of Art which will show the exhibit through November 1st, says that Veil(s) "provides a way to see that no matter how different we are, we have so much in common and that in the interests of understanding, healing and peace, we must recognize and respect both our differences and those things we have in common."

The Hewitt Gallery of Art is located at 221 East 71st St. in New York. The exhibit is viewable by the public during its gallery hours (9 AM to 9 PM, Monday through Sunday).

Lebanese American University dates back to 1835 when it was established in Beirut as the American School for Girls by Presbyterian missionaries. Today LAU is a non-profit, co-educational, private university that operates under a charter from the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York and is fully accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC). It offers graduate and undergraduate degrees of study in seven academic schools housed on two campuses in Beirut and Byblos, Lebanon.

SOURCE Lebanese American University