
CURRICULUM VITAE
Essam Attia
B. 1983 New York, New York
Lives and works in the District of Columbia
EXHIBITIONS
2017 Astral America; Flatiron Project Room, New York, NY
2016 Autonomous Vehicles; Sarah Nightingale Gallery, Watermill, NY
2016 To See Without Being Seen: Contemporary Art and Drone Warfare; Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, MI
2015 View From Above; Flux Factory, Queens, NY
2015 First Person View; Knockdown Center, Queens, NY
2014 Déjà vu; Presented by Art for Progress, NooSphere Arts, New York, NY
2014 Art Walk Mexico, Fifty 24 MX Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico
2013 Declassified; The Price of Freedom is Evident Here, The George Washington, New York, NY
2013 Young New Yorkers, Allegra La Viola Gallery, New York, NY
2013 NYPD Drone Campaign, 1xRun, Detroit, MI
2013 Free ESSAM, Mother New York, New York, NY
2011 Concealment and Disclosure, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY
2011 Tall Oaks From Small Acorns Grow, River Arts Gallery, Damariscotta, ME
2011 Mentors, Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY
2010 Water, Atlantic Gallery, New York, NY
2006 Foundations, Gramercy Gallery, New York, NY
2002 Subliminal Maze, New Falaki Gallery, Cairo, Egypt
LECTURES AND ARTIST TALKS
2021 Drones and Aerial Surveillance, Restore the Fourth, Virtual
2020 Art and Activism, National Religious Champaign Against Torture, Virtual
2019 Interfaith Network on Drone Warfare, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton NJ
2017 Drone Vision: Warfare, Surveillance, and Activism; University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden
2017 Kill List Colloquium; University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
2016 Society of Artistic Veterans; Inaugural Fundraiser and Showcase, Park Avenue Armory, New York, NY
2015 The Rise of the Drones / Privacy, Power and Story Telling, Studio 55, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
2015 Guest Lecturer, Department of Photography, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY
2014 Déjà vu; Artist Talk, Art for Progress, NOoSphere Arts, New York, NY
2014 Teach-In; ESSAM and Noor Mir, Grassroots Alliance for Alternative Politics, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
2014 ESSAM in Conversation with Svetlana Mintcheva, Department of Visual & Critical Studies, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2013 Drone Summit, Georgetown Law School, Washington DC
2013 War, Trauma, Art, and Healing; A Veterans Perspective, Department of Humanities and Sciences, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2013 Your Picture is FORBIDDEN: Photography and Censorship, Photo Expo Plus, New York, NY
2013 Drones & Aerial Robotics Conference, New York University Law School, New York, NY
2013 Guest Lecturer, Department of Photography, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2013 Guest Lecturer, Department of Humanities and Sciences, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2013 Liberty Forum, Free State Project, Nashua, NH
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
2019 Rohrlich, Justin. “Why a US soldier turned against drone warfare.” Quartz
2017 Attia, Essam A. “Res Judicata.” 2012-2017. Litigating Drone Strikes. European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, Berlin, p. Cover+. Print
2016 Attia, Essam A. “Drone Campaign 1.” 2012. Social Text, Race/Religion/War, Duke University Press, Durham, NC, p. Cover. Print
2016 Attia, Essam A. “Drone Campaign 1.” 2012. To See Without Seeing Seen. Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, St. Louis, p. 28+ Print
2015 Monga, Vipal. “Art, As Seen by Drones,” Wall Street Journal
2015 Paul, Kari. “This Is How It Feels to Dance with a Drone,” Motherboard
2015 Disser, Nicole. “Drone Performance With 'Sexy Undertones' at First Person View,” Bedford and Bowery
2014 Quintero, Rodrigo. “diSONARE Interviews ESSAM”, diSONARE
2014 Ledger, Scott. “ESSAM,” Dangerous Conversation
2013 Lau Whelan, Debra. “Importance of Artistic Freedom,” Nation Coalition Against Censorship
2013 Cojo. “Targeted Artist,” ArtiHolics
2013 Shapiro, David. “Silent Auction, Outspoken Artist,” Wall Street Journal
2013 Hahn, Bryan. “Silent Auction To Benefit Street Artist ESSAM,” The Source
2013 Keyes, Bob. “Artists rally for Mainer,” Portland Press Herald
2013 Opelka, Mike. “New York Cops Finally Nab Artist,” The Blaze
2013 “NYPD 'Drone' Poster Campaign,” Huffington Post New York
2012 Keyes, Bob. “'Brilliant' Maine artist arrested in New York,” Portland Press Herald
2012 Gianatasio, David. “'Essam' on dropping a bomb with parodies,” Ad Week
2012 Coscarelli, Joe. “NYPD Seriously Investigating Fake Propaganda Posters That Dare Mock the Police,” New York Magazine
2012 Kelley, Michael & Johnson, Robert. “HELP! We Want To Talk To 'Essam,'” Business Insider
2012 Harvey, Matt & Ismail, Aymann. “Wanted ‘Drone’ Poster Artist Discusses How He Punked the NYPD,” Animal New York
2012 Simeone, Jessica & Abrahams, Matt. “Fake posters drone on about NYPD missiles,” New York Post
2012 Chapman, Ben & Kemp, Joe. “NYPD removes 'Big Brother' ads near Occupy protest site,” Daily News
2012 Paumgarten, Nick. “Big Brother Dept. Look Out Above,” The New Yorker
2010 Dalal, Alia. “Military Maneuvers,” Visual Arts Journal
AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS, RESIDENCIES
2014 City As Site, School of Visual Arts Artist in Residence, New York, NY
2014 Best Social Consciousness Picture, Authorized Drone Strike Zone, VisionFest Film Festival, New York, NY
2011 Graduate with Honors, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2011 SVA Rhodes Family Award
2011 Mentors Program, Mentor: Taryn Simon, Department of Photography, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2010 SVA Special Photography Award
2007 SVA Foundation Photography Award
2003 Graduate with Honors, National Geospatial-Intelligence School, Ft. Belvoir, VA
EDUCATION
2023 (Expected) M.A. Security Policy Studies, The George Washington University, District of Columbia
2011 B.F.A. Photography School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2003 CERT. Geographic Information Systems National Geospatial-Intelligence School, Ft. Belvoir, VA
2003 CERT. Arabic Language Studies American University of Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
TEACHING
2019 Introduction to Digital Photography, Vandart, Cairo Egypt
’14-16’ Ball of Confusion; Affecting Social Change Through Photography, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2015 How to Fly Drones # ICPWorkshop, International Center of Photography, New York, NY
'11-'13 Teachers Assistant, Studio Photography and Lighting on Location, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY