Haneen 2016
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Haneen
By Taylor Davis Haneen is a shrine-like space which viewers are invited to enter. Haneen, an Arabic name that means longing, desire, and nostalgia, is a pseudonym chosen by the woman on whom the work is based, and it is a fitting title for the work. Rejected by her family because she is a lesbian, the woman whose likeness appears inside the installation confessed to Al-Mansour that while she is pleased with her life and career in the United States, she continues to long for her family’s love and acceptance. The installation’s sensuous red and pink tones, combined with the geometric designs printed on Haneen’s fabric walls and floor create an interior space which feels both sacred and erotic. An attractive, reclining nude portrait of Haneen covers the installation’s back wall. The central focus of the work, the prominence of this voluptuous nude solidifies the space’s potent erotic charge. Yet the installation is not a space in which viewers are encouraged to objectify the nude female form. Before entering the innermost portion of the structure, viewers must confront a medusa-like portrait of Haneen’s face. While traditional female nudes privilege the heterosexual male viewer, encouraging him to find sexual gratification by gazing upon the passive female body, the presence of Haneen’s face in the installation’s corridor ensures Haneen’s active, independent role in the work. In the corridor, Haneen looks confidently out at the viewer, the scale of the portrait ensuring that her gaze will not pass unnoticed. Like Medusa who turned those who dared look upon her face to stone, Haneen’s unflinching countenance serves as a talisman meant to counteract objectifying glances. Haneen presents the nude female form in all its erotic glory. But Haneen’s piercing gaze, combined with Al-Mansour’s request that viewers remove their shoes prior to entering the installation, ensure that this work presents viewers with a strong, autonomous woman in whose presence they are honored to stand. |
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