Multi-Cultural

I tried to express my feelings about being an Arab woman by creating an art work in which I made a figure of Middle Eastern female and dressed her as I would have to dress to fit into Arabic society. I tried to show her beauty and make her look glamours, even though she still under control by men and the rules of society . Using the red background as symbolism of her power to resist the control imposed upon her.

Women in the Arab world, have throughout history experienced discrimination and have been subject to restrictions of their freedoms and rights. Some of these practices are based on tradition.

Women in the Arab world, have throughout history experienced discrimination and have been subject to restrictions of their freedoms and rights. Some of these practices are based on tradition.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Arab_societies
As the Qur’an states: “I will not suffer to be lost the work of any of you whether male or female. You proceed one from another”.(Qur’an 3:195)
 
Muhammed peace of upon him said that “one to whom a daughter is born and who does not bury her alive, does not humiliate her not prefer a son to a daughter, will be sent to Paradise”.[15] Another tradition of Muhammad makes hell fire prohibited to he who undergoes trials and tribulations due to a daughter and yet does not hate her and behaves well towards her.(Sahih Bukhari, “kitab al-Adab, bab rahmat al-walad wa taqbilihi).

woman is seen as mother or wife to such an extent that her rights of having sexual desire or needs have been ignored or disregarded. it is very common practice among all Middle Eastern and Eastern societies where woman has seen more as mother,sister,wife and daughter. all these titles come to her as a result of relationship to men. In most of the Eastern Culture if woman is not married,nor has no family, she will have no friends and will not be welcomed warmly to any celebration or occasion. Marriage is an important institution and not getting married is a stigma for both men and woman. However with advanced communication tools, and the effects of social media. these societies are changing rapidly. The same is happening to women as well. Women from any part of the world are more aware of their own identity. Self-esteem and existence. However  there is still a long way till Middle Eastern women can be recognized as individuals. Hatoum’s and many other artists work in this field can be regarded as a step towards that direction.

my work is about five different women wearing Hijabs or veils in different position . Try to create the sense of everyone is different personality , each one of them stronger than the other. The way they faced the problems , and try to solve it .

my printmaking is about five different women I decided to used the black ink in one of my print then I decided to include the red ink with the black ink to give the middle figure the power .

In  some of the Arab societies the educated woman has got many rights to choose her own life. Without any one controlling her. But in the countryside , women can not do that because her life is different. In her childhood always helping her mum, with everything in their own house , which she can go to the filed collecting crops, chicken eggs, milking cows, grooming the sheep.

Mahmoud Mokhter is a Egyptian sculptor.

Born in 1981 . Mahmoud Mokhter is considered a landmark in the history of Egyptian Art. Through his sculpture , he expressed the nations’s dreams and struggle especially the ideologies of  the 1919 national Revolution.

His talents were revealed early in childhood. He can make statues of clay  when he was a little boy.

I would like to give a small introduction about covering the hair as a Muslim women And why the Muslim women choose to wear the hijab?

what the meaning of hijab.

Hijab is that is most commonly worn by women in the West is a square scarf that covers the head and neck, but leaves the face clear.

Most Muslims who wear the covering call it a hijab (حجاب), an Arabic word meaning “cover.” However, there are various forms of hijab that are referred to by different names.http://arabsinamerica.unc.edu/identity/veiling/hijab/

Www.shutterstock.com/ hijab/ search.html.

Additionally, Christian and Jewish women in some traditions wear a headscarf as a cultural practice or commitment to modesty.

Head coverings for Christian women according to the Bible.

Paul wrote

now I want you to realise that the head of every man is Christ , and the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. (1 cor 11:3) every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head. ( 1 cor 11:4) and every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head. It is just as though her head were shaved ( 1 cor 11:5).  www. Evangelicaloutreach.org/ head covering.htm.

Www. Muhajbabah.com

Muslim women choose to wear the hijab or other coverings for a variety of reasons. Some women wear the hijab because they believe that God has instructed women to wear it as a means of fulfilling His commandment for modesty. For these women, wearing hijab is a personal choice that is made after puberty and is intended to reflect one’s personal devotion to God.

there are other Arab or Muslim women who choose to wear the hijab as an expression of their cultural identity. By wearing the hijab, Muslim women hope to communicate their political and social alliance with their country of origin and challenge the prejudice of Western discourses towards the Arabic-speaking world (Zayzafoon, 2005). In many cases, the wearing of the hijab is also used to challenge Western feminist discourses which present hijab-wearing women as oppressed or silenced.

this images are different. two of them I print them early in my beginning of my third year, but the other I print them recently ,I just want see the differences between four of them and why I changed the colours in the other two. I tried to create something with the colours try to mixed the warm colour together, try to get the sense of the warmth which I missed it.