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Huda Totonji is an established Arab female artist. She obtained
her BA in Studio Art and MFA in Art and Visual Technology from
the US with academic excellence. She is a master calligrapher
certified in Teaching Arabic Calligraphy (Ijazat Alkhat
Alarabi). As a great enhancement for future leadership in
academia, her interest in scholarly research guided the
completion of her PhD degree in Fine Art and Visual Technology.
Having been born and raised in Saudi Arabia, the Eastern
thought is where she came from. Living her adulthood in the
United States allowed the Western thought to shape her identity
in the West. Huda comes from two civilizations, one that
expresses itself visually through the 'word' and the other that
expresses itself through ‘pictorial’ and figurative
(representation) language. Being able to combine both the
Eastern and Western ideology has been a constant interest in
Huda’s artistic approach. This furthermore exposed her to
Eastern and Western educational systems.
Teaching as a fulltime lecturer at Dar Al Hekma College, Jeddah,
KSA, further enriched her knowledge and exposure to academic
improvement and excellence. Recently, she joined the faculty of
the Graphic Design Department at the Art Institute of
Washington. Her academic and professional experience from the
Middle East and the West has also contributed to her ability to
communicate with different age groups, cultures, and
nationalities. Professionally, Huda, the artist, researcher, and
lecturer has gained extensive recognition in various exhibitions
as well as universities in the United States and
internationally, which has been louvered in various forms of the
media.
Being a visiting speaker in many of the most renowned
universities in Washington Metropolitan area and others such as,
George Town University, George Washington University, Howard
University, University of Pennsylvania, and University of the
Sciences, Kansas State University, Portland State University,
Oregon State University, Montgomery College, and Griffith
University in Australia, further enhanced her academic
professional acknowledgments. Her bilingual, critical thinking,
visual perception, and analytical reasoning skills is projected
in applying theory into practice in the field of Fine Art in
higher education.
Huda Totonji’s artwork has moved formally from painting towards
video, performance and text in response to investigating issues
and questions about femininity and representation. Working with
the female gaze, her MFA thesis show from George Mason
University presented these challenges through the use of
Performance Art, Video Installation, Multi-Media, Drawing,
Painting, and Photography. Her PhD dissertation explored the
integration of text and image researching Islamic Calligraphy,
Female Subjectivity, and Art and Science. Her future career goal
is to establish robust educational channels between
international universities and other universities in Saudi
Arabia, leading the Saudi female educators and artists into an
outstanding productive and creative educational environment.
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