International baccalaureate aRT 2015
In my last year of higher education, for my Art & Design IB projects, I referred back to my Jordanian heritage. My focus fell on the depiction of Muslim women in the media and how their voices are often shunned.
In order to represent those voices, I began interviews with women who belong to the Islamic community, specifically those who wear the hijab.
Below are multiple art pieces that demonstrate their voices and the often misrepresentation that are oppressed, when in fact it is oppressive to strip them of the freedom to choose.
Fleurs du Mal - Flowers of Evil by Baudelaire,
This mixed media piece was created with acrylic paints, fake flowers, printed paper & calligraphy ink. It was inspired by the poem by Charles Baudelaire,Fleurs du Mal.The poem was originally published in 1857, it was important in the symbolist and modernist movements. It was considered extremely controversial upon publication, and six of the poems were censored due to their immorality; however, it is now considered to be a major work of French poetry. The poems in Les Fleurs du mal frequently break with tradition, using suggestive images and unusual forms. The poems deal with themes relating to decadence and eroticism, particularly focusing on suffering and its relationship to the original sin, disgust toward evil and oneself, obsession with death, and aspiration toward an ideal world.
This piece was inspired by then controversial immortality elements that featured in the poem. Around the edge of the liles, is written the poem to better explain the literal symbolism. Beneath the drowned painted flowers are printed eyes to humanise the fraud imitation of a living organism.
Olive trees are a symbol of peace in Palestine. Hundreds and thousands of trees grew in the fertile soil. Due to the illegal and violent Israeli occupation since 1948, these olives trees are disappearing. In contemporary motion, the symbol of peace has now become a symbol of war, therefore the olive tree is represented through the construction of guns.
