In November 2012 I published in a photo-essay a body of artworks titled I Am My Own Guardian to criticize the discriminatory laws requiring male guardianship of adult women in Saudi Arabia (Muftah 2012). This series consists of four images, each of a single, larger-than-life woman’s head wearing a headdress typically donned by Saudi men. The figure in each print uses rich black ink that strongly contrasts against vividly white paper. Two of the portrait visages look at the viewer (in black and white) and two look away (printed over a colorful, free-flowing cloud-like mist). I first exhibited the four portraits as large screen prints in November 2012 at Sydney College of the Arts as part of my honors degree. A small version of my artwork was included in a January 2015 Saudi exhibition in Jeddah titled Fast Forward: Inner Voices.1 Interestingly enough, when state representatives came...
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Research Article|
July 01 2018
I Am My Own Guardian: Reflections on Resistance Art
Saffaa Hassanein
Saffaa Hassanein
SAFFAA HASSANEIN is a Sydney-based artist, researcher, and cultural activist. She has an MFA in visual art and is a PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. She has exhibited at the Islamic Museum of Australia, in various galleries in Sydney, and internationally. She has also been commissioned to create public and private murals in Melbourne, Sydney, and Queensland. Contact: [email protected].
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Journal of Middle East Women's Studies (2018) 14 (2): 236–241.
Citation
Saffaa Hassanein; I Am My Own Guardian: Reflections on Resistance Art. Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 1 July 2018; 14 (2): 236–241. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/15525864-6680348
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