Acrylic on Canvas. “Islamic Feminism & Women in Islam.”
The last theme I introduce in my blog is that of Islamic Feminism and women in Islam. As women’s bodies have often been the space for defining and redefining Muslim identities in different cultures, it was very interesting to see different examples of how women took that space back, critiquing traditional perceptions of women’s identities in Islam while redefining their identity for themselves.
I was initially inspired to paint my Islamic feminism portrait after watching the “Somewhere in America” video by the #MIPSTERZ group (Hafiz). The women in this video very confidently project their contemporary identities while boldly riding skateboards throughout the city.
(From Hafiz Y, Huffpost Religion, 2015.)
I really appreciated the colorful clothing and the cool and bubbly personas that the women gave off in the video. Thus I decided to paint a portrait of a similar modern Muslim feminist. In a similar manner as the women in video, the woman in the painting is wearing a colorful scarf tied knotted to the front of her head and is wearing bright clothing.
I also wanted to incorporate other aspects of Islamic feminism into this painting. In the contemporary Urdu poem, “We Sinful Women”, author Kishwar Naheed portrays women as active, intentional, and conscious to the social inequalities. The women are not ashamed of their stance, as the narrators states, “It is we sinful women/…who don’t sell our lives/who don’t bow our heads/ who don’t fold our hands together” (Ahmad 31). Similarly, the woman in my painting has her head raised and the perspective of the painting is contre-plongée (a low-angle perspective) to signify that the viewer must physically look up to this modern-day feminist. She returns the look by gazing out to the viewer. Additionally, her facial expression is unclear – she may be smirking, or slightly smiling, or looking down on the viewer.
I also wanted to incorporate the imagery of the sun present in “We Sinful Women.” The narrator of the poem describes how she has higher status since she is a companion of the sun: “I don’t want the shade of lengthening shadows/I have the support of the rays of the rising sun./… The Sun has chosen me for company” (Ahmad 33). In my painting, the woman is surrounded by a warm yellow background, representing the support she receives from sunrays in campaign for feminism.
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