Alexandra Avakian
Tufaha Baydayn, a Lebanese American, fled Lebanon’s civil war in the 1970s. Dearborn, Michigan

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Artist Alexandra Avakian(American, born 1960)American, born 1960

CultureAmerican

Titles

Tufaha Baydayn, a Lebanese American, fled Lebanon’s civil war in the 1970s. Dearborn, Michigan

DateJune 2002, printed 2012

Place depictedDearborn, Michigan, United States

MediumInkjet print

DimensionsImage: 13 1/4 × 20 in. (33.7 × 50.8 cm)
Sheet: 17 5/16 × 24 1/16 in. (43.9 × 61.1 cm)
Frame (outer): 22 5/8 × 28 5/8 × 1 3/4 in. (57.4 × 72.6 × 4.4 cm)

Credit LineGift of the artist

Object number2012.34

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionPictured
here mowing her lawn, Tufaha Baydayn came to the United States in the 1970s as
a refugee fleeing the Lebanese Civil War (1975–90). Baydayn settled in
Dearborn, Michigan, a quiet Detroit suburb that is currently home to the
largest Lebanese American population in the country. In the years immediately
following 9/11, photojournalist Alexandra Avakian traveled to Dearborn to
photograph its Arab population as part of a project documenting the everyday
lives of Muslim Americans throughout the United States. In photographing this
ordinary suburban scene, Avakian underscores the universality of the American
experience shared by people of all backgrounds.
ProvenanceThe artist, Arlington, Virginia; given to MFAH, 2012.
Exhibition History"WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, November 11, 2012–February 3, 2013.

"Always Greener: Seeing and Seeking Suburbia—Selections from the Museum’s Collection," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, August 21, 2018–February 3, 2019.

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