dialogue of the present: Contemporary Arab Women's Art

Z i n e b Se d i r a , M y Sister's Scarf, 1 9 9 6 Fall/ Wint er 2000 N k a- 3 5 dialogue of the present: HI i'j Jl i 1 AR AB W OME I J uliet Highet The aim is to through expei Most people are deeply astonished to discover that there is a dynamic contemporary Arab art scene, and even more astounded that Arab women artists are among its most brilliant post- modern exponents. This ignorance is prevalent not only among non- Arab audiences, who by and large view Arab art as traditional, or who, when marginally more aware of contemporary practice, box it up as non- representational. But this lack of awareness also extends to the Arab community both at home and across the Diaspora. Precious little attention has been paid to the diversity and complexity of being female, Arab and an artist today, whether in the Middle East, North Africa or wherever Muslim peoples have settled. How come this low profile? Arab women artists lack exposure and opportunity in terms of exhibitions, publications and sponsorship . This is partially because the weight and splendor of the (maledominated ) artistic past seems to preclude national and international attention; whereas contemporary art from the Asian sub- continent and Africa has achieved justly merited acclaim. A groundbreaking exhibition is currently touring Britain. Prettily anodyne it is not —Dialogue of the Present: The Work of 18 Arab Women Artists contains some provocative material — the cover of the accompanying book cum catalogue shows a woman in various stages of veiling, which the photographer. Zineb Sedira, has entitled Don't do to her whatyou did to me. What is this "dialogue of the present" referred to in the titles of both book and exhibition? It's a creative interaction between women, critiQuing, re- assessing and therefore preserving their shared Arab identity. Their work, in all its richness and variety, originates from ten countries and the three vastly different realities of the Middle East, North Africa and the UK. It dares to examine deeply personal as well as politically controversial issues. The aim is to challenge stereotypes, whether through experimental overturning of Arab tradition, or widely- held Western misconceptions of Arab art being geometrical, iconographic or exotically, voyeuristically "Oriental." Not that tradition is necessarily "a bad thing." The Arab cultural inheritance never distinguished between fine art and craft, and the work of these 18 women often uses traditional forms and media as well as contemporary ones to comment on the present. As Fran Lloyd, editor of the book Contemporary Arab Women's Art: Dialogues of the Present, writes, "While the choice of materials has a basis in training, with the earlier generations (of artists) tending Faci n g p ag e: d et ai l of Z i n e b Se d i r a , M y Sister's Scarf, 1996 One of the most prevalent themes in Dialogue of the Present is that of identity and dislocation, since so many of the artists live in a country not their own, or divide their time between greatly contrasting cultures of the world. towards painting, drawing and printmaking , with the middle generations of the I950's including sculpture and installation , and the later generation including photography and video, the artists cannot be fixed on this basis... (they) are present throughout the generations. In addition, several artists use a combination of these forms which also encompass illustration and ceramics." Najat Maki trained in Egypt and was as much inspired by Pharaonic sculpture and reliefs as she was by the materials of her Dubai upbringing. "I frequently use mixed media in my paintings including natural dyes and herbs such as saffron and henna. These materials, together with their fragrances , are intimately linked with memories of my childhood where I spent a considerable amount of time in my father's shop which specialized in aromatic oils and traditional herbs." Kuwaiti- born Thuraya al- Baosami trained in Cairo and Russia, and then lived in Zaire and Senegal, and draws on the interaction of the potent symbolism of Russian and African mythology, while acknowledging her Arab roots. She wrote: "The techniques I...