Picasso said, "Art is not made to decorate rooms. It is an offensive weapon in the defense against the enemy." In this context, Ms. Dagmar Painter will examine how artists in the Arab world and its diaspora have made art as a form of resistance, protest and a weapon in the fight for social justice. Dagmar Painter is the founder and curator of Gallery Al-Quds, the art gallery of The Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development, which is Washington DC's only full-time art gallery featuring the work of Arab-American and Arab contemporary artists, with a special emphasis on Palestinian art. She has lived and worked in the Arab world for more than 12 years and has traveled extensively in the Islamic world for more than 30. For her work in Egypt she received the Meritorious Honor Award from the U.S. Department of State. She was recently profiled in the Washington Post. Most recently, her co-curated exhibition The Map is Not the Territory was featured at the Arab American National Museum. This event costs $25.