Multi-Cultural

I inspired by Suadi sculptress called Noha AL-sharif. she reflect both religion and lifestyle in her work. the concept of modern art attracted her to used materials like Porcelain and Textile. she interest in the representation of groups and the sculptural history of different figures relate to each other.

www.arabnews.com/news/559846

those images I chose them to try to create my own print which I presented them on my work to capture the women’s’ role in the Middle East. As group of women show their moral, prayer  , religion and faith. using the black ink which presenting the black cover (abaya) for women. this colour most of women wear it in Arab country to cover themselves.

I printed one with the Black ink then in the other print i involved the red ink with black ink to see the differences. When I added the red ink I felt the Red colour gave the print the power. I indicated that the women could be strong , fight for her own life, be herself and more independent .

hand is an exploration of the positive and negative aspects of being human, this is happening everywhere in our world. On the beginning of the week , I decided to do print after  I went to my studio space which I found  my tutor waiting for me and she told me that ” we have to do some printmaking today  because you are good at it “. then I took my cardboard image in our print room. My tutor helped me to ink  up my  cardboard with white ink and she suggests to print it on a black cartridge paper.  we did the print after that I tried to capture all the process of the print I made , the way I used the ink , after put it in the presser, to the final piece.  After that  I finished my print. I was quiet happy about my work because this print more important to me try to show the differences between hands, culture, believes which means everyone has got different personality.Even in my country everyone tried to bring their own mind and force other people to believe it. They did not accept different idea and believes.

later on , I decided to do it and try it with red ink , but I used it to print  on an Arabic newspaper to see the differences. I found when I started to put the red ink , gave me the rough texture this what I have been looking for, as meaning of hands can be look soft from outside but can be rough and tough inside.

was born in 1957 in Qazvin , Iran and left her country to study art in the United states at the age of seventeen. Shirin is a video and installation artist who explores political and social problems of Iranian and Muslim life in her works. She focuses in her works on women’s issues. In 1982 she gained a degree in MFA from California (artnet,no date).

She was influenced by her father because he encouraged her to be more independent, to take risks, learn and see the world (Macdonald,2004,p4).

Neshat’s uses aspects of her background culture to produce works that tap into universal ideas about, loss,meaning and memory (Iran Champer Society,2104).

Shirin’s photographs, video installations and short films explore the issues surrounding contemporary Islamic culture, Islamic identity, and particularly the subject of Islamic women (Sheybani,1992,p2).

Woman of Allah, Shirin Neshat, (1993-97)

http://www.matthewmachowski.com/2009/10/women-of-allah.html

Woman of Allah (1993-97) made up of four photographs. this art wor was a result of her visit to Iran in 1990 transformed by Islamic fundamentalism. Her art work was about revolution and the idea of “slaughter”.

once I have been told to write about our blog. I started to think and write in Arabic way then translated to English.  In my blog I decided to use Arabic writing as translation of my English .

In my final year I tried to work different from the way I did last year. This year I am working with the material straightaway , try to explores and experiment .

last year I used to do lots of sketches before my final piece Then did it after long studies.

” life is your Art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A Oneness with your world is your film. Your bright eyes,your easy smile is your museum.”  Ansel Adams.

The missing piece of the jigsaw is Peace. my work is about Exile , missing and loss. My work is reflected the feelings of uncertainty , fear, not belonging , missing and loss. Being away from my country developed the feelings of  not belonging which I grew up in Egypt  then I moved to England where I found if difficult to communicate. I was immersed in an English society different from my heritage, language and culture.

I tried to record and represent what I have been through, my art work by using different materials and every day objects.

Word Exile means expulsion from one’s native land by Force or by different circumstances.

Exile  forces us to adjust and work with different circumstances.

The definition of meaning is when a person is separated from his or her country.

Exile the challenge is for each individual to adopt or at least live in parallel worlds with the new society.

In other worlds keep ones heraldry, which is authentic to self and embrace a new cultural identity which is functional and coherent to country. The new country is almost life a new world.

A new world which although connected globally by internet communication have layers of meaning and understanding which are so subtlety different that understanding is not readily or obviously conveyed

Etiquette – restaurant Cafe.

communication between women and men.

Rules for engagement dress codes.

Arendt H expressed in the following words that

“they must remember that they are constantly on the run, and that the world’s reality is actually expressed by their escape”.(Stonebridge, 2012).

Artists research  

Mona Hatoum is Lebanese artist. she was born in Beirut in 1952, she came to London in 1975 for a short visit but decided to stay because of the war  (Brett,1997,p4). i inspired by her art work . The  way she used her images, colours and objects. Hatoum uses place as metaphor when she discusses about displacement. i her work defiance can not separated from vulnerability, order from chaos, beauty from revulsion, the brain from body, her work has two dimensions, emotional loss, and political loss because of exile (Brett,1997,p 34). One of art work which  relevant to my work is measures of distance 1988 . measures of distance is a video work comprising several layered elements. Letter written by Hatoum’s mother in Beirut to her daughter in London which appears as arabic text moving over the screen and are read a loud in English by Hatoum. In the background images are slides of Hatoum’s mother in the shower.

Www. Tate .org.uk.  Measures of distance,Mona Hatoum, 1988.

A measure of distance is  presented in away which shows Hatoum is connecting past with the present like a  vivid memory.

Hatoum says about her video

” this fascination with the body, partly comes from the contrast between Britishness and less self-conscious attitude to physicality that she was used to while growing up. “The British have this physical reserve. Arab culture is very different.” And that, she adds,is why the Arab world has no many rules and restrictions about the body. ” otherwise people would go crazy! ” ( Laura Barnett,2012).