I have had some comments as to whether I, as an atheist anglo saxon, [possibly of viking genes as I have that blood group] should be nailing a muslim veil on a naked female figure. Is this reference to covering her face a step too far re others sensitivities.
Would I be “criticising” someone else’s cultural practices. I am believe it is a cultural rather than a religious practice for Muslim women to be head covered/veiled.
I had considered this previously as the figure that started out as Mre Darth Vader somehow gained a charcoal sketched veil along with her helmet. I was thinking of armour and drifting towards the clothes that women wear, for what purpose and how I can express the cultural pressures on all women.
Answers wide and various.
I can remember women having to cover their heads in church in my youth. Orthodox Jewish practice still requires women to wear wigs to cover their own hair.
I had been given an authentic Egyptian veil in the past, and when I thought to add it, the idea of nailing it on was illuminating to me.
It suggests pressure on females to conform, which men do not experience to the same intensity, but also at the same time, choice as some Muslim women prefer to be veiled and have to fight for the choice to wear a burka, in France for instance. Political police beat muslim women who do not cover their heads in public in Middle Eastern countries.
So on reflection I think this piece is thoughtful and valid, an enquiry into the controls that women have to cope with, and may fight against when they feel they might have been internalised…….it is part of the human condition to reflect on what and why we do what we do. Art can explore this in visual form to be interpreted by the viewer on whatever level appeals.
