Ghada Amer: Interviewed by Marina Kotzamani

An internationally-acclaimed visual artist based in New York, Ghada Amer has exhibited her work in the U.S. as well as in many countries in Europe, her native Cairo, and Israel. An exhibition of her paintings, Breathe Into Me,was shown in the winter of 2006 at the Gagosian Gallery in Manhattan. Amer's work, such as the recent Colored Strokes on White Diane and Eight Women in Black and White, is known for its exploration of female sexuality. This interview was taped in New York City on July 26, 2004.

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I invited you to participate in the Arabic Lysistrata project because I was struck by how clearly your work brings out themes central to Lysistrata. For example, in your works of women masturbating the subject is sexual but it is also political, and the two themes are inextricable. Far from being sexually arousing, the embroidered images of the lone women evoke violence and pain. You place sexuality in a broader cultural context in which women have been victimized. Masturbation then becomes a political act, a response to societal norms. In Lysistrata, too, sex and politics are intertwined and the sexual is political.

Exactly. The central connection I see between Lysistrata and my own work is the theme of power through sexuality; that is, how to use sexuality so as to achieve a political goal for women. Lysistrata is a gendered play and I am very interested in women's issues, in gender stereotypes, in power and sexuality.

You are an artist who has experienced both Western and Eastern culture. You come from Egypt but you are based in New York and exhibit your work internationally. How has your multicultural background affected you?

You can experience the world as flat or as three-dimensional. I lived in only one world until I was eleven and I thought there was only one truth. This is safer. You learn the norms of a particular place and you abide by them. But then, if you go elsewhere, you see that the norms can be totally different. You realize that each culture has its own norms and you realize this deeply. It's not a question of being tolerant, you feel it in your skin. So you have to be flexible and to be able to shift your norms.

Is there a shifting of norms happening in Lysistrata? The women want peace and try to communicate this to the men. Through the sex strike they try to get them to understand something. So perhaps there is an attempt, at least on the women's part, to step beyond the way one is, the norm.

For me the only interesting character in the play is Lysistrata. She's the only one trying to shift the norm. All other women just follow. By contrast, Lysistrata is able to see not only the women's but also the men's side, and this is why she can resolve things. For example, she understands that the withholding of sex would make men responsive.

Do you identify with Lysistrata?

I would like to be like her. Her mind rules her body; she's not an emotional person like me. She is exceptional in that she can control her sexuality. In fact, she is a mythic character. She can get out of her desire, to achieve what neither men nor women can do because men are for violence and women are too scared.