KATHY ZARUR
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Mashrabiya: The Art of Looking Back

Picture
Sherin Guirguis, Hayv Kahraman, photo by Kristy Boylan

Picture
Sanan Mazinani, Samira Yamin, photo by Kristy Boylan
Using the architectural form mashrabiya as a visual trope, this exhibition shows artwork that complicates Western paradigms of viewing and representing Middle Eastern and Islamic culture. Found throughout the Middle East, the mashrabiya is a projecting window that is screened with intricate latticed designs in wood. It is used to shield the domestic space from the public gaze, while allowing the inhabitants to survey the street below unseen.

The mashrabiya and its attendant practice of looking form the conceptual basis for this exhibition. The artworks implicate the viewer as both witness and participant in a dynamic, responsive form of looking. Who has the power to look? What social conditions arise from the dynamics of looking and being seen? What is the responsibility of the viewer in this power dynamic?
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Artists: Ala Ebtekar, Sherin Guirguis, Taraneh Hemami, Hayv Kahraman, Sanaz Mazinani, Samira Yamin

Curated by Kathy Zarur, Santhi Kavuri-Bauer, Mark Johnson and Sharon Bliss
San Francisco State University 
Fine Arts Gallery, February 2017 - March 2017

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  • Home
  • Curating
    • Preoccupations: Palestinian Landscapes
    • side by side/in the world
    • Lahib Jaddo: Every Woman Knows Her Own Tree
    • Betweenscapes
    • Mashrabiya: The Art of Looking Back
    • Where Is Here
    • Bookish Intimacies
  • Conferences
  • Teaching and Research
  • Press
  • About