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Maker(s):Essaydi, Lalla
Culture:Moroccan, active in Boston (1956- )
Title:Les femmes du Maroc #14 (Women of Morocco)
Date Made:2005
Type:Photograph
Materials:C41 print mounted on aluminum
Measurements:overall: 34 1/8 in x 40 1/8 in x 1 1/8 in; 86.6775 cm x 101.9175 cm x 2.8575 cm
Accession Number:  AC 2007.13
Credit Line:Purchase with Wise Fund for Fine Arts
Access Restrictions:Currently out for conservation
Museum Collection:  Mead Art Museum at Amherst College
2007_13.jpg

Description:
Edition 2/15

Label Text:
Essaydi's photography addresses issues of female identity, challenges the restrictions placed on women in many Arab societies, and criticizes the Orientalist tradition of exoticizing and eroticizing Eastern women. In achieving the latter, Essaydi adapts poses from well-known art historical works. This photograph, for instance, references Edouard Manet's Olympia, one of the most famous paintings of reclining nude women.

The other key to understanding Essaydi's Les femmes du Maroc series lies in the text, which is written directly on the models, their coverings, and the backdrops. Her writing celebrates the beauty of Muslim culture while challenging women's place in it. The text is calligraphy, which is practiced only by men in Essaydi's native Morocco, but it is written in henna, a material associated with women and bodily adornment.

MD, 2013

Tags:
figures; female; women; portraits; white

Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=AC+2007.13

Research on objects in the collections, including provenance, is ongoing and may be incomplete. If you have additional information or would like to learn more about a particular object, please email fc-museums-web@fivecolleges.edu.

1 Related Objects

1956-13.jpg
AC 1956.13
Manet, Edouard
Olympia
1867
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