Lalla Essaydi The Dangerous Frontier

24 Apr-5 Jun 2015

Overview

Lalla Essaydi employs photography intersected with an array of artistic media and practices extending from installation to calligraphy and henna painting in her attempt to challenge Orientalist readings of Arab female identity. In doing so, she seeks to challenge our notions of history, gender, architecture and culture and the role that women inhabit in traditional Orientalist fantasies within them. Here, in her Bullets Revisited series she uses cut and polished bullet casings along with her signature use of henna to create glittering tableaux. "Where past projects more narrowly focused on cultural politics of representation and gender," writes Kinsey Katchka in Lalla Essaydi's new monograph, "these photographs are a manifestation of the artist's engagement with contemporary political realities of the international sphere." The exhibition's opening will be held in the presence of the artist and will include a book signing of 'Lalla Essaydi: Crossing Boundaries, Bridging Cultures', published by ACR Edition as well as a panel discussion.