my video new

My video

I really liked this advert and it was the main inspiration for my idea based on London streets, as I wanted to mix identities and create a hybrid through dual nationality.

THE MOST INTERESTING THING I HAVE FOUND IN MY RESEARCH SO FAR…

Please see the video on this site, it has English subtitles but narrated in French.

Although I am questioning that “Princess Hijab” is actually a man (Men are not requested in Islam to wear the veil) I am not entirely sure how I feel about this work. On a controvertial artistic level, sure it works and pretty well. It’s different, in your face - but to me it is the in your face part that I am questioning. In my opinion freedom of expression is great, as long as it is not offensive. I think by imposing the already very feared image of the hijaab (headscarf) and niqaab (also known as burka - extra material that covers face) in a western society it is not helping Muslims be accepted and not educating people to correct the negative stereotype? I am trying to see both perspectives here in my research.

So this leads me to the idea that maybe I should look into the Quran (The Muslim Holy Book - equivalent of their Bible) and look at where it talks about the veil and understand a little bit more about it.

My trial inspired by Ghada Amer’s technique.

I used Ghada Amers dripping technique to experiment with this image of the headscarf that looked serene and simple. I wrote words and cut out from newspapers words that both Muslims and non-Muslims would associate with the image when they see it. Please feel free to comment your thoughts. This is just a part of my research not my final idea.

Other pictures by Shadi Ghadirian uses her photographs to examine the situation of women in Iran.

The Ghajar series looks back to the era of the Qajar dynasty who ruled the country from 1781 to 1925, using clothes from the turn of the last century to dress women, and made them pose against a traditional background but with modern “anomalies” in their hands: a can of Pepsi, a vacuum cleaner, a newspaper.

In Like Everyday she photographs various fabric versions of the burqa without a person wearing them, but where the eyes is a kitchen tool: an iron, a teapot, a broom, a cheese grater, etc.

An editorial photograph by artist Alicia Framis entitled the “Burka Bikini”, although i am unsure that this is the actual title of her work, I just thought the idea was interesting although I can understand how it may be offensive. I apologise if it does cause any offense but my objective of placing this picture was to show the juxtoposition of the image, and that maybe that is how non Muslims view the headscarf when they do not understand it. They see it as a shock, an uncomprehendable veil. A person veiled, covered, captured by fabric? So I am still thinking again what if I could try and mix fashion with art with knowledge educating people of the positive side of this religion? After all there are different sides to everything and everyone.

Ghada Amer talking about her work and muse.

“Islam oppresses women, does not encourage being sexual…”

Not necessarily as shows us Egyptian, New York based, artist Ghada Amer. (Pictured above).

Best known for her large-scale embroidered “paintings” reminiscent of abstract expressionism, Amer has also produced a number of important installation works that use embroidered script. In Encyclopedia of Pleasure, Amer quotes a medieval written manual on sexual and spiritual fulfillment. One of a number of encyclopedias circulated around the Arab world between the 11th and 16th centuries, this one dates from the late 10th or early 11th century and was written by Abul Hasan Ali Ibn Nasr Al-Katib. It was intended as a moral and ethical guide and was considered a highly sophisticated document that combined the literary, philosophical and medical knowledge of the time. Though accepted during the time of its creation, the manual was later suppressed by an increasingly conservative society.

Amer’s installation is made up of 57 canvas boxes, covered with Roman script embroidered in gold thread and stacked in various arrangements. Like many of Amer’s text-based works, the Encyclopedia of Pleasure presents the viewer with a challenging read. In the English translation of the original Arabic, many of the words are deliberately blurred or passages are fragmented. The text of these passages is not important per se but acts merely as the visual framework for larger investigations of sexuality and spirituality and the role of the word within them. Amer chose to copy excerpts from seven of the chapters that interested her, such as “On praiseworthy aesthetic qualities of women” and “On the advantages of a non-virgin over a virgin,” both of which discuss issues of female pleasure and beauty.

I found this article really interesting as it was not written by a Muslim. However the interest in the veil and its questionable versitility of whether it can be interwoven with fashion is really intreguing…