Opening Reception with artist talk: Tuesday, February 13th, 6 -7:30pm
Book Launch and signing with music by Al-Bustan Ensemble: Friday, February 16th, 6 - 9pm

12G and Al-Bustan Seeds of Culture co-present a series of works by acclaimed graphic
designer, photographer and sculptural assemblage artist, Rajie Cook. Cook is the founder of
the graphic design firm Cook and Shanosky Associates, Inc. In 1984, Cook and his
colleagues were recipients of the Presidential Award for Design Excellence, and around that
time Cook took his first journey to Palestine. The trip catalysed his practice of peace activism
and activist art, which seems to have been incubated by his father’s deep emotional
connection to the ongoing suffering in the Middle East. After nearly half a century as a
graphic designer, Cook began exploring sculptural assemblage in 1999 to express his feelings
on a range of issues as visual statements.

Cook’s recently published memoir, also titled A Vision for My Father features many of the
photographs he took while serving for ten years on the Task Force for the Middle East. The
memoir is a tribute to his parents, Palestinian refugees, and in particular his father; after being blinded by cataract, Najeeb Cook was never able to see the celebrated work of his son, nor learn of any peace achieved in his homeland before his death.

Rajie Cook is an internationally-known Palestinian-American artist who graduated from Pratt
Institute in 1953. He has been the President of Cook and Shanosky Associates, Inc., a
graphic design firm he founded in 1967. The firm produced all forms of corporate
communications, including, Corporate Identity, Advertising, Signage, Annual Reports and
Brochures.

His graphic design and photography have been used by IBM, Container Corporation of America, Montgomery Ward, Squibb Corporation, Black & Decker, Volvo, Subaru, AT&T, New York Times, Bell Atlantic, BASF, Lenox, and a number of other major international corporations. He received the Presidential Award for Design Excellence from President Reagan and Elizabeth Dole on January 30,1984 in the Indian Treaty Room of the Old Executive Office Building in Washington, DC. Juries under the auspices of the National
Endowments chose the thirteen winners of the Federal Design Achievement Awards for the
Arts. In 2003, “Symbols Signs” a project designed by Cook and his partner for the US
Department of Transportation was accepted by the Acquisitions Committee to the collections of the Smithsonian Cooper Hewitt, National Design Museum.
Inspired in part by the work of Joseph Cornell, Cook has turned to sculptural assemblage.
His works have been exhibited in the gallery format widely since 2002.