No one is neutral here
You must choose your part in the end
2019
The installation comprises two pieces, No one is neutral here and You must choose your part in the end.
In the work, an anonymous woman is photographed wrapped in a previous work titled Not Your Harem Girl (2018). Not Your Harem Girl is a patterned fabric that includes elements of Ingres’ La Grande Odalisque (1814) and the embroidered words ‘Not Your Harem Girl’. When combined, all the elements form a pattern that resembles Islamic geometric art.
No one is neutral here and You must choose your part in the end are taken at the Ayasofya (Hagia Sofia) in Turkey, although that isn’t made obvious. Moledina has attempted to negate the ‘exotic’ that is often associated with the East by steering away from the elaborate mosaic tiles and stereotypical ‘otherness’ that Muslim women are often identified with. Even though the location is not evident, she felt it was important to take Not Your Harem Girl to Turkey to photograph, and place the woman within what is considered an intellectual space. Wearing the fabric like an armour, the woman is protected from the exoticisation and misogyny often experienced by Muslim women and is able to reclaim her space. The two images are taken beside a column and beside a window and are poignant yet powerful.
The tiles are taken from the poem I have a seat in an abandoned theatre by late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. The poem explores authorship and spectatorship. Here, the woman has taken the reign of narration from the Western Orientalist and has chosen the part of author in her own tale.
Credit: No one is neutral here (2019), Farwa Moledina, (Digital print on textile), Lahore Biennale: A Rich Tapestry, Aisha Khalid Studio Gardens, January 2020
You must choose your part in the end (2019), Farwa Moledina, (Digital print on textile, Lahore Biennale: A Rich Tapestry, Aisha Khalid Studios, January 2020
You must choose your part in the end
2019
The installation comprises two pieces, No one is neutral here and You must choose your part in the end.
In the work, an anonymous woman is photographed wrapped in a previous work titled Not Your Harem Girl (2018). Not Your Harem Girl is a patterned fabric that includes elements of Ingres’ La Grande Odalisque (1814) and the embroidered words ‘Not Your Harem Girl’. When combined, all the elements form a pattern that resembles Islamic geometric art.
No one is neutral here and You must choose your part in the end are taken at the Ayasofya (Hagia Sofia) in Turkey, although that isn’t made obvious. Moledina has attempted to negate the ‘exotic’ that is often associated with the East by steering away from the elaborate mosaic tiles and stereotypical ‘otherness’ that Muslim women are often identified with. Even though the location is not evident, she felt it was important to take Not Your Harem Girl to Turkey to photograph, and place the woman within what is considered an intellectual space. Wearing the fabric like an armour, the woman is protected from the exoticisation and misogyny often experienced by Muslim women and is able to reclaim her space. The two images are taken beside a column and beside a window and are poignant yet powerful.
The tiles are taken from the poem I have a seat in an abandoned theatre by late Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. The poem explores authorship and spectatorship. Here, the woman has taken the reign of narration from the Western Orientalist and has chosen the part of author in her own tale.
Credit: No one is neutral here (2019), Farwa Moledina, (Digital print on textile), Lahore Biennale: A Rich Tapestry, Aisha Khalid Studio Gardens, January 2020
You must choose your part in the end (2019), Farwa Moledina, (Digital print on textile, Lahore Biennale: A Rich Tapestry, Aisha Khalid Studios, January 2020
