An artist and activist, Serge Hamad has created a diverse body of photographic and graphic work that explores a range of subject matter, from human rights issues to figures in repose. His documentary work has focused on poverty, war crimes, censorship, and discrimination. In his best-known series, “Take a Stand,” Hamad explored the plight of persecuted Iranians—women, sexual minorities, and outspoken creative—in poignant portraits. “I use art to inform about sociopolitical situations, but I refuse to illustrate a judgment. I feel that an artwork is successful when once injected into the communication channels it manages to awake a dialog,” he has said of his recent work. Hamad’s more abstract photographs capture subjects relaxing on sprawling beaches or flowers resembling whirling dervishes, serving as serene, hopeful foils to his more political series. Since the mid-eighties, Serge Hamad has created documentary work that focuses on war crimes and human rights issues. Incorporating both video and photography, Hamad’s wide range of work captures and informs sociopolitical situations in regions such as the Middle East and the Balkans. He feels that "an artwork is successful when it is injected into the communication channels and manages to awake a dialogue" Hamad’s more abstract photographic series, such as Temporal Perception combine images of landscapes and digital rendering of soft hues and color gradients. Based in New York, Serge Hamad is a French-Algerian artist whose work has been exhibited in galleries throughout the US and abroad. His work has also appeared in auctions including Paddle 8, Artsy, Christie’s London, Sotheby’s and the Water Mill Foundation.