Traditions Rooted in the
World of Women
by
A . M .
Two women, one from Morocco and the
other from India, share a relationship to contemporary arts practices and the use of cultural signifiers rooted in the world of
women. At the top of their game as international artists, Lalla Essaydi and Vibha Galhotra
borrow emblems from indigenous cultural traditions, making them integral to their visual lexicons. Through the photographic mimicry and
subversion of Orientalism (a Western term for
depictions of Asian, Middle Eastern, and North
African cultures), Essaydi promotes the reconsideration of the North African woman as exotic
"other" and part of a polygamous system
replete with harems. Galhotra appropriates the
ghungroo.a symbolic emblem of femininity
that is ubiquitous in East Indian culture. She
uses thousands of small metal bells (worn as
anklets by Indian women and classical female
performers) to construct sculptural works that
address organic growth, urban sprawl, and
environmentalism.
Essaydi's large-format chromogenic
photographs contain a wealth of contradictions—part tribute to Orientalism, which she
loves, but at the same time deconstructs. She
re-contextualizes identity within simulated
scenes from renowned Romantic paintings by
Delacroix, Gérôme, Ingres, and Sargent, bridging her hybridity as a Muslim, woman, mother,
and artist. Charged cultural signifiers, such as
the veil, the harem, and the female body,
become sites of reflection through which she
unravels stereotypes and historicism.
The implied site of many of these photographs is within the confines of the harem
itself. Harems, which existed in Morocco until
the mid-twentieth century, were households for
individual or extended families. Each wife had a
salon where she lived with her immediate family; men had separate quarters and visited their
wives and children at designated times. A
matriarchal system (based on patriarchal lineage) ruled the harems'domain.The outside
world was the purview of men.
W e a v e r
Essaydi chose Dar el Basha, a majestic
palace located in her Moroccan hometown of
Marrakech, for the 2009 series Harem.Jhe
women are posed within luxuriant architectural
motifs and surrounded by zellige tiles, lounging
on cushions of the same pattern. Essaydi photographed the palace tiles and printed the patterns on fabric, which were then fashioned into
the garments worn by her models. Fully camouflaged, these models, like apparitions, become
silent testimonies to how women lived their
lives in a harem.The subjects in her Harem
Revisited series (2012) wear ornately embroidered caftans and are surrounded by patterned
brocade fabrics and drapery.These antique textiles, loaned to the artist from the Nour and
BoubkerTemli Collection, date back to the 17th
century.These works allude to Essaydi's personal translation of an empirical reality having
grown up in a harem.
Erotic environs reminiscent of
Orientalism are absent in Essaydi's Les Femmes
du Maroc series (2005-2008).The female figures
and their white garments are covered in
veneers of hand-scripted henna.Their poses
and visages exude a subtle sensuality, reflecting
qualities attributed to essential feminism, which
celebrates the differences between women and
men.Their quietude, beauty, and power epitomize the feminine, while the use of text serves
as both veil and symbol of defiance.
Essaydi literally writes with henna
across the body, nude and clothed, in a derivation of kufi calligraphy, one of the earliest forms
of Islamic script, using excerpts from her own
journals.She explains,"! am practicing a sacred
Islamic art usually inaccessible to women.To
apply this writing in henna, an adornment worn
and applied only by women, adds a further
subversive twist." She brings calligraphy exclusively into the realm of women, framing their
experiences as an appended history of this art
form.
Partially legible and intentionally
obscured fragments of her life story, as well
RiGHT: LALLA ESSAVDI Les Femmes du Maroc: Fumée d'Ambre Gris (Smoke of Ambergris) Chromogenic print mounted to aluminum,
dimensions variable, 2008.© Lalla Essaydi, New York/Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York.
Surface Design Journal
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LALLA ESSAYDI Harem Revisitedíf36 Chromogenic print mounted to aluminum with a UV protective laminate,
dimensions variable, 2012. © Lalla Essaydi, New York / Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York.
as pivotal transitions such as c h i l d h o o d ,
adolescence, and marriage, are evident in her
oeuvre. Essaydi mitigates t h e liminal space
b e t w e e n a traditional existence as a Muslim
w o m a n a n d t h e c o s m o p o l i t a n arena she n o w
occupies living in New York City. A u t h o r Fatima
Mernissi equates Essaydi's w o r k w i t h the legendary tale of Scheherazade, w h o t o l d stories for
one t h o u s a n d and one nights to t h e King of
Persia for her life's salvation.
Essaydi's h a n d w o r k in henna merges
sensibilities a t t r i b u t e d t o a d o r n m e n t , beauty, and
ritual. Her writings, seen on yards of c o t t o n fabric
on t h e bodies of her subjects and interior walls of
her locations, resemble e m b r o i d e r y or delicately
d r a w n latticework t h a t seems t o g o on for infinity. The women's loose-fitting garments refer to
silks and c o t t o n t h a t Muslim w o m e n artfully
e m b r o i d e r by hand before being made into
caftans.
The veil, or hijab, has m u l t i p l e readings
in Islamic culture.The first reference t o a hijab in
t h e Koran was t h e lowering of a curtain t o create
privacy for M u h a m m a d and his fifth bride
Zaynab bint Jahsh on their w e d d i n g night.
Fatima Mernissi's exposé The Veil and the Male
Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women's Rights in
Islam asserts that the hijab had two connotations
in early Islam. A metaphysical hijab separated
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one from the radiance of God, while the mystic
Sufis believed the veil also represented a crucial
flaw in character—the inability to lift oneself out
of a corporeal existence in pursuit of the divine.
Today, the veil is a supreme symbol of
modesty and a much-contested emblem of both
the repression and liberation of women. Essaydi
states,"Behind the veil, an Arab woman maintains
a private place, even in public."
In her recent series Bullets Revisited
(2012), Essaydi offers unsettling commentary on
violence toward women. Using thousands of
brass bullet casings, she constructs shimmering
interiors. Yet, the handsewn shells used to embellish the cotton cloth bedding, jewelry, loin cloths
and bodices of her reclining models belie their
devastating materiality.
Vibha Galhotra recodes the cultural
symbolism of ghungroos.When fashioned into
payais or anklets, ghungroos (made of copper,
brass, and silver alloy) ward off negative energies,
serve as accessories, and when broken, signify a
fall from innocence.They also declare the presence of a woman in the home and mark the
body's rhythms in classical Indian dance.With
thousands of these feminized everyday objects,
Galhotra creates mammoth sculptures and
tapestry-like wall works.
Through the appropriation of these
Surface Design Journal
E; LALLA ESSAYDI Harem #2 Chromogenic print mounted to aluminum, dimensions variable, 2009.
© Lalla Essaydi, New York / Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York.
BELOW: LALLA ESSAVDI Bullets Revisited#3 Triptych of chromogenic prints mounted to aluminum with a UV protective laminate,
dimensions variable, 2012. ® Lalla Essaydi, New York / Courtesy Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York.
Summer2013
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RIGHT: ViBHA GAIHOTRA Colony Collapse Disorder Ghungroos
(metal ankle bells),fabric, thread, steel,stitching, dimensions
variable, 2011. Detail ABOVE. Shown courtesy of the artist.
materials, she renegotiates t h e interpretation of
their diverse readings w i t h i n Indian culture and
t r a d i t i o n . Her references t o t h e threshold
b e t w e e n nature and man are part of a cautionary
tale t h a t calls attention t o perilous urban and
rural environmental conditions. Implied is an
imbalance, a disorder t h a t portends a rapid dive
t o w a r d dystopia. M e r g i n g her interest in science
and spirituality, she a t t e m p t s t o pave t h e way for
consideration of a new w o r l d order.
Gaihotra perceives herself w i t h i n a
transnational context. As a y o u n g m o d e r n , she
considers t h e struggle for her o w n class/caste of
w o m e n , at least, t o be w o n . A l t h o u g h she appropriates materials and processes related to
women's w o r k and cultural identity, Galhotra's
privileged u p b r i n g i n g and educational o p p o r t u nities secured her station in life. Yet, she is aware
of t h e t r e a t m e n t of w o m e n of t h e lower
classes/castes.
D e p e n d i n g on t h e project, she employs
b e t w e e n t w o and t w e l v e w o m e n as her studio
assistants. Most are housewives tethered to their
husbands for s u p p o r t and adept in sewing, w h i c h
is an integral part of constructing t h e massive
g h u n g r o o works. Working w i t h Gaihotra enables
her assistants t o escape their modest circumstances. She gingerly acknowledges that, for
some w o m e n in India, things are c h a n g i n g
very slowly.
Galhotra's w o r k engages aspects of t h e
g r o w i n g discourse s u r r o u n d i n g ecofem/n/sm.This
46
t e r m , coined in 1974 by Françoise d'Eaubonne,
refers to t h e perceived imbalance of power w i t h in patriarchal capitalism in w h i c h t h e oppression
of w o m e n directly correlates t o a negligible relat i o n s h i p t o nature. Vandana Shiva, a n o t e d East
Indian physicist, ecological activist, and ecofeminist, challenges m a l e - d o m i n a t e d capitalism and
t h e trek t o w a r d a global economy, particularly in
reference to non-western societies. Shiva states
that capitalistic economic d e v e l o p m e n t intrinsically disregards indigenous k n o w l e d g e , spirituality, and a balanced relationship t o nature.
A l t h o u g h Gaihotra does n o t c o m p l e t e l y
adhere t o ecofeminist percepts, remnants of their
theories are evident in t h e work. Her agenda, as
in t h e t r i p t y c h tapestry Landscape Remade (2011 ),
is t o reevaluate t h e rampant disorder of New
Delhi's rapid d e v e l o p m e n t and other global
p h e n o m e n a . In her 2012 show Utopia of
Difference at Jack Shainman Gallery in New York,
Gaihotra used urban debris, cement, sediment
f r o m t h e Yamuna River, and tree branches t o represent a deeply flawed reality on t h e verge of
c r u m p l i n g . Her beehive pieces, such as Colony
Collapse Disorder (2011 ), are made entirely f r o m
huge clusters of g h u n g r o o s and hang f r o m t h e
ceiling.These m o n u m e n t a l sculptural works literally encapsulate t h e d i l e m m a of man's disruption
of essential ecosystems related to global agricultural p r o d u c t i o n t h r o u g h t h e use of pesticides.
According to historian and curator Gayatri Sinha,
Galhotra's creative vision is a convergence of
Surface Design Journal
VIBHA GALHOTRA ¿anascapeKemode iriptych oí gnungroos imeiai anKie Dells), îaDric,tnreaa,stitcning, y» X148", 2011.
Shown courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
maseuline and feminine sensibilities, plaeing her
w i t h i n t h e context of a post-feminist m o m e n t .
Sinha asserts t h a t Galhotra's smaller works, such
as Altering Boon, (2011 )—a translueent glassbeaded h a m m o c k inscribed w i t h the map of the
seven continents, allude t o a delicate balance in
global states of affairs.
Essaydi and Galhotra may be on different pages of a global feminist manifesto, but
b o t h use life experiences as their springboards.
Currently living in New Delhi, Galhotra grew up in
the capital city of Chandigarh and attended Visva
Bharati University in West Bengal, which was
established by world-renowned poet
Rabindranath Tagore.The expansive campus
landscape, especially, fostered Galhotra's experimentation with site-specific installations in public
spaces. Essaydi, as a mature woman, chooses to
articulate a life informed by migration from
Morocco to Saudi Arabia and France, finally settling in the US. By combining fragments of lived
realities with historical accounts, she constructs
phantasmal images. She views herself as a book
in progress.
Lalla Essaydi's website is www.lallaessaydi.com.She is
represented by Edwynn HoukGallery, New York,
www.houkgallery.com.
Vibha Galhotra is represented in the US by the Jack
Shainman Gallery, New York, www.jackshainman.com.
VIBHA GALHOTRA Altering Boon Glass beads, wire, wood, 136"x 36", 2011.
—A. M. Weaver is an independent curator and art
journalist based in Philadelphia, PA. She is currently
working on the project In Their Midst documenting
the contemporary work of seven international female
photographer/filmmakers.
Shown courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York.
Summer2013
47
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