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347 18. Orientalism Inside/Out: The Art of Soody Sharifi cynthia freeland “Orientalism” is a term made prominent by critic Edward Said in his 1978 book of that title. It is often used now in a loose way to denote an attitude of scornful superiority toward anything “Eastern” (including both the Middle and the Far East), with this “Other” seen as exotic and alluring but also barbaric and strange. In fact, Said specifically used the term to designate a field of self-constituted experts who proposed to explain the Orient to the West. Among its other features, he explains, Orientalism was a system of expertise in which, standing before a distant, barely intelligible civilization or cultural monument , the Orientalist scholar reduced the obscurity by translating, sympathetically portraying, inwardly grasping the hard-to-reach object. Yet the Orientalist remained outside the Orient, which, however much it was made to appear intelligible, remained beyond the Occident. This cultural, temporal , and geographical distance was expressed in metaphors of depth, secrecy, and sexual promise: phrases like “the veils of an Eastern bride” or “the inscrutable Orient” passed into the common language.1 If anything, it has become even more critical for us to understand the “mysterious East” since the events of 9/11 and the war in Iraq, events which have led to increased suspicion, misunderstanding, paranoia, media misrepresentation , and in some cases, outright persecution of a variety of people ranging from foreign students to Muslim Americans and ranging far afield to target Sikhs, Armenians, and others who dare to look different from “us.” Thirty years after the publication of Said’s groundbreaking book, the cultures 348 CYNTHIA FREELAND of Islam and the East still await representation in ways that depict an insider’s view rather than that of the self-taught expert from outside. One such insider is the artist and photographer Soody Sharifi, an Iranian who has lived and worked in Houston, Texas, since 1974. Born in Tehran, Sharifi came to the United States in the early 1970s to pursue a degree in industrial engineering. Although she worked in that field for a time, she never felt she belonged there. This was partly because she had other interests, and partly because of resistance she met as a petite foreign woman working in a mostly male field. Sharifi began to explore her interests in the humanities and arts, where she felt more at home. She spent time in a doctoral program in Spanish literature and took a course in London on women in art. That course led to her eventually applying to the University of Houston’s School of Art, where she earned an MFA in studio photography in 2004. Sharifi’s exhibition record since then has included various series in which she addresses the representation of Muslims in general and of Muslim women in particular. This work has been shown in exhibitions such as “Women of Cover” (2002), “Simply Girls” and “Veiled/Unveiled” (2004), “Teenagers and Maxiatures” (2006), and “Garden of Persian Delight” (2007). Sharifi collaborated with her adult son, Payam Sharifi, an artist now living in Moscow, on the show “Proud and Sad/Wrong and Strong” for the Women and Their Work Gallery in Austin in 2006. She is also engaging in a long-term project to document the lives and activities of Muslim Americans, especially young people. As a naturalized U.S. citizen, Sharifi feels strongly that she has a foot in the culture of both West and East. The problem of representing Islam has a long history. As Said wrote, “even the simplest perception of the Arabs and Islam [is] a highly politicized, almost raucous matter.” He deplored the “almost total absence of any cultural position making it possible either to identify with or dispassionately to discuss the Arabs or Islam.”2 Sharifi’s work takes a step toward filling these gaps in a quiet, often witty way. Sharifi left Iran before the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and after observing the changes introduced by the new rulers she decided not to return. When she was able to go back for visits, she found the country much transformed , in particular in its treatment and situation of women. Having grown up during the liberal, Westernizing Pahlavi reign, when women did not wear the veil, Sharifi found herself wearing a hijab for the first time as a mature adult. This strange and disorienting experience prompted much self-reflection . After a trip back to Iran in 1999, she began a self-portrait series...

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