ways of seeing

At the crossroads of photography , painting and Arabic calligraphic writing , I stage the female body in my series- ways of seeing- to explore body image , intimacy and the western culture from eastern perspective of my Arab Islamic culture . Dressed only with a silk cloth, called ‘sefseri’ -which is a large piece of cloth ,that Tunisian women used to wear in the past , to cover the whole body out of modesty in order to ovoid male looks – my model blossoms without a fear and dare to reveal herself in front of the lens,. This put me in a task of reflection about the beliefs hidden in my subconscious mind on the constraints inherited from my generational lineage towards my self-image as a woman . My artistic process of this series starts with physical ‘editing’ on a monochromatic prints through painting , carving and writings to reveal and unravel what I think and feel about myself as a woman , taking my model as a medium that shows me everything I see different to my cultural identity . Later on, I use Photoshop to merge the original pictures with these monochromatic versions to create an alternative character in my story. Between Tattoos and Arabic letters , skin and cloth , BW and colors , hide and reveal , I seek to create an alternative version of how I see myself . The heart of- ways of seeing- is a permission of self-discovery, combining opposite cultural symbols and beliefs to create a parallel reality of my self-perception as an Arab woman in the west.