Fatimah Hossaini, an acclaimed artist, photographer and women's rights activist, will discuss the power of visual storytelling at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18, as part of the U of A's Rome Center Speaker Series hosted by the Graduate School and International Education.

The talk will be held in the Rome Center's historic campus located in Palazzo Taverna in Rome. The event is also available to the U of A campus and community members virtually via YouTube.

Hossaini is the visionary founder of the Mastooraat Art Organization. This organization fosters and supports both the appreciation and creation of art and peace for women. Among the youngest to receive the Hypatia International Award, Hossaini combines her background in engineering and photography to craft powerful narratives on identity and femininity in Afghanistan. A fervent advocate for women's and refugees' rights, her work garnered international acclaim and was featured in exhibitions and publications worldwide in outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian and Bloomberg Media. For more information on Hossaini, please visit her website.

Hossaini's talk will also be part of the Annual Women in Arts Conference held at the Rome Center on Oct. 18-20. This year's theme is "From the Amazons to the Guerrilla Girls: Warring Women in Art, Architecture and Literature," which highlights how women portrayed the horrors of war in artistic media. Speakers from across the globe will present at the conference — both online and virtually — on topics including warrior women in classical Athens, representations of female warriors in early modern art and literature, and depictions of Amazonian women in Peter Paul Rubens' painting "Battle of Amazons."

The full program is available on the AIWAC's website.

"I'm very grateful to have Fatimah Hossaini as the guest of honor at this edition of AIWAC," said Consuelo Lollobrigida, art history faculty at the Rome Center and co-convener of the conference. "Since the very beginning of AIWAC's experience, I decided to be committed with blending scholars and artists to give a real insights to an important topic as that of women is. The presence of Fatimah will be highly inspiring for everyone."

The Rome Center's Speaker Series offers talks from renowned international experts across a range of topics throughout the fall semester. The lecture series includes two additional talks this fall held on-site at the Rome Center's location in Rome, Italy. Both talks will include virtual options for the broader U of A community.