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The Virtue Police
My mind insists on calling them the “Committee for the Prevention of Virtue and Promotion of Vice”.
Hajj in 1953
(Source: helvetii)
Saudi woman standing in front of an art installation during an exhibition for solidarity with Gaza (Jeddah, 2009)
(Source: waleedsmind)
(Source: saudistreetart)
“Suspended Together” is an installation that gives the impression of movement and freedom. However, a closer look at the 200 doves allows the viewer to realize that the doves are actually frozen and suspended with no hope of flight. An even closer look shows that each dove carries on its body a permission document that allows a Saudi woman to travel. Notwithstanding their circumstances, all Saudi women are required to have this document, issued by their appointed male guardian.
The artist reached out to a large group of leading women from Saudi Arabia to donate their permission documents for inclusion in this artwork. “Suspended Together” carries the documents of award-winning scientists, educators, journalists, engineers, artists and leaders with groundbreaking achievements that gave back to their society. The youngest contributor is six months old and the oldest is 60 years old. In the artist’s words, “regardless of age and achievement, when it comes to travel, all these women are treated like a flock of suspended doves.”
(Source: manaldowayan.com)
(Source: saudistreetart)
‘Walladah’, silkscreen print by Hend Al-Mansour
ihya:
In “Resistance,” Samra fuses digital photography, painting, sculpture, video and performance to explore different states of the human condition. “I’m using the tools of the media and advertising to comment on the ‘distorted reality’ that these mechanisms represent,” stated Samra.
“For me, the content dictates the medium and not vice versa.” In an ironic twist, he uses what he calls “artistic photography,” which is staged in order to present a desired reality — one which comments on the “distorted reality” that is constantly fed to us via the mass media, advertisements and our political leaders. His work boldly denounces their large-scale manipulation. As he draws upon the mundane — bread in an oven, an empty bed, animal feet — he raises questions about the nature of identity, liberation, resistance, survival, mortality, hatred and belief.
By MARRIAM MOSSALLI
The above image: Distorted Reality – Performance # 44 by Faisal Samra
Art Dubai 2011
