01 / Selected works in motion
An intimate room, an imagined refuge, a body at the water’s edge.
02 / Selected works in motion
Water, performance and a portrait share the frame.
03 / Selected works in motion
A face, printed language, and imagined documents of belonging.
04 / Selected works in motion
Lettering, an author’s book and a client identity become one composition.
Follow a thread
Follow the relationships between the works—and the different ways Alex takes part in making them.
01 / Body & landscape
In Interwoven, layered images and alphabets resist a single answer to identity. In Salaam, projected images enter the space of a live musical performance. Water carries the passage from a portrait into an environment.
Personal practice meets collective performance.
02 / Space & story
Family, class and desire shape the world Alex wrote and directed in āh. For Samir Kawas’s Jabbara, his contribution was production design. In Vincent J’s Enchantress, existing coastal spaces meet Roman and Phoenician imagery. These films connect through the worlds they inhabit, while Alex’s responsibility changes from one to the next.
Directing one film. Designing the world of another.
03 / Identity & belonging
Interwoven’s question of identity moves into the imagined documents of Perceiving Nationhood. Three passports propose competing national identities; terminal x layers photographic imagery, colour and text. Faces, words and official-looking forms become different ways of reading belonging.
Artist-led inquiry across moving image, print and imagined documents.
04 / Authorship & collaboration
For Elias Bou-Issa’s lkelLmét, Alex designed the cover and title lettering. With The Striped Hyenas, he developed Hyam’s identity and digital presence. Each project begins with a different person, audience and responsibility.
An author’s book and a commissioned identity.
Through an artwork, a film or a collaboration, the questions change scale.
More about the practice Other perspectives on the workAwards & honours
Recognition reaches across Alex’s artist-led films, commissioned and collaborative work, and personal practice—from Lebanon and the United States to Europe and Brazil.
Explore awards & honours ↗Russia · 2021
Honorable mention
ISAFF Saint Petersburg
For āh · Alex: director & screenwriter
A distinction from the Saint Petersburg International Short & Symbolic Art Film Festival.
Brazil
Film craft award
Rio International Monthly Awards Film Festival
For My All · Alex: production design & assistant direction
Rio de Janeiro-based online competition. Listed in the film’s published festival history; year and round are not specified.
Poland · 2019
Audience award
Splat!FilmFest
For Jabbara · Alex: production designer
One of six audience awards received by the film in Splat!FilmFest’s 2019 programme.
United Kingdom · August 2019
Film award
The Monthly Film Festival
For Jabbara · Alex: production designer
TMFF is an online competition based in Glasgow. This record identifies the August 2019 award round.
Lebanon · 2017–2018
Personal award
Lebanese American University
Awarded to Alex Dahdah
Alongside LAU’s Highest GPA and Community Service awards in TV & Film for the same academic year.
United States · 2022
Personal prize
San Francisco Art Institute
Awarded to Alex Dahdah
SFAI also awarded Alex an MFA Fellowship in 2021 and the PhotoAlliance Award in 2022.
Press & conversations
Artist-led work, commissioned photography and collaborative projects—seen through studio visits, reviews and published work.
Studio visitEditorial composite · Alex Dahdah with Perceiving Nationhood Passports.
Artist-led practice · Studio visit
MICA / Mount Royal · 2023
A studio visit with Alex, moving between print, film and the Perceiving Nationhood thesis project.
Watch conversation
ReviewOriginal film poster · Jabbara
Collaborative film · Production design
The Monthly Film Festival · 2019
A review of Samir Kawas’s short film considers its lead performance, enclosed theatrical space and use of color. Alex contributed production design.
Read feature
Published photographyPublished commercial cover · February 25, 2021
Commissioned photography · Commercial publication
Gulf News / GN Focus · 2021
Alex’s portrait photograph of Sam Bayat and Pej Mohyeddin appears on the commercial advertisement cover of the GN Focus supplement, published on February 25, 2021.
View published photograph
ArticleCollaborative design · Named contributor
961 · 2022
Coverage of Kelme’s Lebnéne keyboard and the team behind it, including Alex.
Read featureThe practice
Alex works across film, installation, print and design, with a focus on identity, nationhood and belonging.
He teaches Art Appreciation at Richard Bland College.
Across the practice
Works, people, places, recognition and the ideas behind them.
Search across the website.