I make artwork about Arab women lives and choices. I explore religious and social taboos seeking to reconstruct a positive self-image as an Arab woman. My work is an expression of my continuous bridging of values, ideas and way of living between the Arab culture and the American culture. I use images of the women in my life and involve them in dialogues with my audience. Qur’an is the inspiration and the focus of my work. I use it in different ways. It can be an object, a metaphor, a sound track or a painted calligraphy. Being born and raised up in Saudi Arabia I was immersed in Islamic aesthetics. Arabic calligraphy, women’s garments and cosmetics henna hand paintings and Arabian mud houses are amongst the many traditions that inform my art.
Haifa has a sister (obviously!) who’s an artist too. Sort of consolidates the idea that the whole family is probably artistic. In my case, it seems that in my family, it skipped one generation… me!
Comments
Hend Al-Mansour
Thanks for your great links Mahmood! I had found out about Hend al-Mansour before, but I didn’t know about Haifa until your recent post. Given the same last names, I guessed that they’re sisters, although I hadn’t heard of their dad Abdulrahman al-Mansour. Artistic family indeed.
Hend’s paintings are wonderful! I mean, come on, a Saudi female cardiologist who paints? That’s [i]impressive![/i]
Re: Hend Al-Mansour
It just proves that given a little flexibility, respect for women, and conceding that they actually ARE capable would unleash a wonderful and as yet untapped energy in the magic kingdom, doesn’t it?
Instead what we have now is the creation of brain-drain in Saudi for both women and men. Very few artists would just sit around and do nothing, they will go to a society which can appreciate them and their art.
Re(1): Hend Al-Mansour
Oh, I forgot to mention that Hend was born in the same city as I was: Hofuf, al-Hasa! That was kind of fun to discover.
Hend Al-Mansour
Arafat,
I rode my first camel in Hofuf. What an adventure it was to say the least. Tad uncomfortable to say the least. Ahhh fond memories of a different time.
Ciao!
Mark