The annual graphic design and poster show Tasmeem has returned to ICD Brookfield Place for its fourth edition, showcasing 12 artists whose posters tackle the theme of Graphic Dissent through bold, nuanced, diverse, and deeply personal approaches.
This year’s theme was developed by Lebanese graphic designer and printmaker Farah Fayyad, who sees visual communication not just as aesthetic practice but political possibility.
“There are countless injustices unfolding around us, Illegal occupation, systemic oppression, silencing, displacement,” Fayyad tells me for The Culturelist.
“It felt urgent to position design as something that doesn’t just sit on the sidelines or operate within commercial or capitalist systems, but as a field that is active in the world and capable of responding to it.”
For Fayyad, dissent in visual design isn’t always about being loud, she explains that it can be “subtle, poetic, even quiet, but it always insists on being felt, and refuses to look away.”
The selected posters reflect this breadth of tone and approach, using typography, illustration, photography, and visual systems to document resistance, amplify collective memory, and imagine alternative futures.
From Baghdad to Beirut, Cairo to Riyadh, these works form a living archive of protest that insists on being seen. Running until 22 August at ICD Brookfield Place, Tasmeem: Graphic Dissent, features artists from across the region whose works move beyond surface design to raise questions of power, place, and presence.
You can find out more about the artists and their practice below and read my conversation with Fayyad below.
Maan Jalal: How did you want to challenge artists and designers through the theme?
Farah Fayyad: I wanted to challenge them to move beyond aesthetics and ask themselves: what do I really want to say? What keeps me up at night? What deserves to be seen, felt, or heard? The challenge was to respond with honesty and urgency, and to trust that even a single poster can hold a powerful position in shaping how we witness, remember, and act.
Maan Jalal: In your view, what makes visual language uniquely powerful when it comes to protest or advocacy compared to other forms of communication?
Farah Fayyad: Visual language bypasses the noise. It hits you in the gut before you have time to rationalize it. A poster can shift your attention, plant a seed, or create an emotional echo that lingers. It can carry memory, nuance, contradiction. All without needing a paragraph of explanation. I think it’s especially powerful in contexts where speech is censored or dangerous. Images can speak in code, in metaphor, in feeling. Images and symbols also have the power to become iconic within political movements. They can travel, unify, and form bonds between people who have never met. That’s the power of design: not just to speak, but to build alliances, to signal solidarity, to let others know they’re not alone.
Maan Jalal: What were your thoughts and feelings when you saw the final selection of winners and how they interpreted the theme?
Farah Fayyad: Honestly, I was moved. The work is sharp, diverse, emotional, and beautifully executed. There’s hand lettering, collage, photography, embroidery-inspired motifs. Each piece holds its own world. Some responses are defiant, others deeply tender. Together, they form a kind of living archive, a testament to how designers across the region and diaspora are thinking, feeling, resisting, and dreaming.
Maan Jalal: Why would you encourage people to come and view the exhibition?
Farah Fayyad: Because it reminds us that design is not neutral. These posters speak to grief, memory, joy, land, resistance, survival. And they do it with clarity and care. I think people will leave feeling more awake. And maybe more hopeful, too, that our tools can still carry meaning.
Baqara Haha by Abdul Rahman Hashlamon
Based in Al-Isawiyah, Jerusalem, AbdulRahman Hashlamon is a designer and illustrator whose practice spans Arabic lettering, poster design, and visual commentary. His work explores memory, identity, and resistance, often combining expressive typography with emotional narrative.
National Peace by Daoud Tabibzada
Afghan-Canadian designer Daoud Tabibzada works across editorial, brand, and spatial design. He’s currently Art Director at DAZED MENA, where he crafts visual narratives reflecting youth culture and the shifting aesthetics of the Middle East. His multidisciplinary approach weaves storytelling, collaboration, and regional cues into contemporary design.
Vectroized by Farah Teima
Farah Teima treats design as play curious, dynamic, and always in motion. Her work experiments with typography, 3D, and motion graphics to explore how design can surprise and provoke. Rooted in process and discovery, her posters push the boundaries of visual language, asking viewers to see and feel differently.
Tarweedat Al Shamalia by Gamila El Kordy
Cairo-based visual designer Gamila El Kordy brings research and storytelling to the heart of her work. Specializing in editorial, motion, and typography, she uses design to ask deeper questions and build visual narratives that connect.
Qurbak Naeem Alrouh by Hussein Khalifa and Hala Kamounah
Iraqi illustrator Hala Kamouna and type designer Hussein Khalifa combine forces in a project that blends poetry, memory, and modern Arabic typography. Khalifa’s designs honour classical calligraphy while reimagining it for digital contexts. Kamouna’s illustrations, influenced by music and daily life, offer quiet yet powerful meditations on identity and place.
Threads of Liberty by Lama Kadri
Lebanese-Syrian designer Lama Kadri works across digital and physical mediums, always with attention to detail and storytelling. Her practice explores existentialism, political themes, and Arabic typography.
Parched Soil When Wet by Milad Safaa Naji
Multidisciplinary designer Milad Safaa Naji merges Arabic lettering, book and poster design, and digital techniques into a cohesive visual language. His work often explores contemporary Arab identity through type and form.
African Resurrection by Mohamed Abdelbasit
Based in Riyadh, Mohamed Abdelbasit is a senior graphic designer whose practice reinterprets heritage through modern techniques. He works across media to fuse tradition with contemporary digital aesthetics, reflecting on cultural memory, transition, and identity in the Gulf and beyond.
Salam Falastin by Naz Naddaf
Designer and educator Naz Naddaf work blends visual communication, user experience, and creative research. With roots in traditional graphic design Naddaf embraces design’s multiplicity using it as a tool to question norms, expand expression, and build new visual vocabularies.
The Grammar Of Dissent by Nisrine Sarkis
Beirut-based designer Nisrine Sarkis is known for her commitment to Arabic typography and thoughtful visual systems. With roots in branding, editorial, and lettering, she resists trend-driven design in favor of clarity, cultural depth, and intention.
No To Occupation by Rami Hoballah
Lebanese designer Rami Hoballah brings a strong sensibility for Arabic typography and branding. His work focuses on creating designs that are both visually impactful and culturally resonant, reflecting identity and purpose in every detail.
To Remember is to Resist by Ranim Al Halaky
Ranim Al Halaky is a Syrian-Lebanese designer and visual artist whose projects explore migration, memory, and cultural storytelling. Her work spans print, installations, and immersive media.