Nabil Harb's Photography Captures Florida's Queer Palestinian-American Experience

Nabil Harb, a Palestinian-American artist from Central Florida, creates black-and-white photographs that document his personal experience of the American South. His work, including pieces like 'Grasshoppers' (2020) and 'J&J' (2019), captures moments ranging from bucolic calm to intimate scenes at drag shows. Harb earned his MFA in photography from Yale University in New Haven in 2021 and received the NLGJA's Excellence in Photojournalism Award in 2023. Farah Al Qasimi, an artist based in New York and Abu Dhabi, selected Harb for ArtReview's Future Greats 2024 feature, noting her admiration for how his work has grown sharper and more curious since they first met in Miami in 2017. Al Qasimi highlights Harb's ability to translate Florida's sunlight, humidity, and the weariness of long-term residence into images that she experiences rather than merely observes. In an era marked by divisiveness and anti-Arab sentiment, Al Qasimi finds Harb's documentation of Florida's pockets where a queer Palestinian-American feels belonging to be particularly relevant to the present moment. His photographs, such as 'Backyard' (2021) with its overgrown foliage and broken-down cars, offer a hyperlocal yet globally resonant perspective.