Pink House of God
The Pink House of God
This piece is one of a series of shrines that I call mihrabs. Each represents a woman from an Arab country. Housed in each is a prayer rug, signifying the woman’s sacred core. For this exhibition I chose to display The Pink House of God from my Mihrab series. It is inspired by a Saudi student in the Twin Cities and tried to portray her complexity as a contemporary Arab young woman.
What struck me about this woman is her aspiration for independence and freedom of expression. She wants to make her own way in life not hampered by traditions and costumes that she does not understand. Unlike most Saudi women in the U.S., she is unveiled. Nevertheless, she has a deep-seated faith and a belief that God will always direct her to the good path. Like many Saudis of her generation, she grew up with a love for Disney characters and was indeed inspired by Tinkerbelle, who possesses the self-sufficient spirit that she longs for. After her long struggle to get the Saudi scholarship, she is now studying to be an industrial engineer.
I have interviewed this woman, exploring important people, events and places in her life to form enough of an impression of her to create this installation. The choice of colors is a reflection of her taste. The playfulness of the images and the big smile on the portrait echo her optimistic and joyful spirit. The geometric design screen-print is an imitation of Sadou, a traditional Bedouin women’s weaving design of tents in Arabia. I chose it because it is a woman’s artistic tradition that reflects this woman’s love for geometric shapes while at the same time is drawing on her cultural heritage.
The prayer rug on the floor marks a temporary consecration of ordinary space in order to communicate with God. Women pray in the privacy of their homes. Many Saudi Arabian women have a small chest in their living room where they keep sacred paraphernalia: a prayer rug, a rosary, and a Quran, clean and perfumed. When it is time to pray, they unroll their prayer rug towards Mecca to create an intimate sacred space for a few minutes. In this exhibit, in both the study model and the installation, the prayer rugs are facing east.
Mihrab is Arabic for a place for prayer retreat. It is also the most elaborately ornamented spot inside a mosque. It is a holy compass that orients worshippers towards Mecca. My project departs from the mosque imagery because I create a figurative representation, controversial in Islamic art. Hence, its presence calls into question the complexity of Arab woman’s contemporary identity. Are they oppressed and weak or resilient and powerful? In what ways does the Islamic faith shape their identities?
This is a work in progress. My goals are to represent Arab-American women as people we can identify with and for Arab art to claim the space it deserves in our contemporary art world.
This piece is one of a series of shrines that I call mihrabs. Each represents a woman from an Arab country. Housed in each is a prayer rug, signifying the woman’s sacred core. For this exhibition I chose to display The Pink House of God from my Mihrab series. It is inspired by a Saudi student in the Twin Cities and tried to portray her complexity as a contemporary Arab young woman.
What struck me about this woman is her aspiration for independence and freedom of expression. She wants to make her own way in life not hampered by traditions and costumes that she does not understand. Unlike most Saudi women in the U.S., she is unveiled. Nevertheless, she has a deep-seated faith and a belief that God will always direct her to the good path. Like many Saudis of her generation, she grew up with a love for Disney characters and was indeed inspired by Tinkerbelle, who possesses the self-sufficient spirit that she longs for. After her long struggle to get the Saudi scholarship, she is now studying to be an industrial engineer.
I have interviewed this woman, exploring important people, events and places in her life to form enough of an impression of her to create this installation. The choice of colors is a reflection of her taste. The playfulness of the images and the big smile on the portrait echo her optimistic and joyful spirit. The geometric design screen-print is an imitation of Sadou, a traditional Bedouin women’s weaving design of tents in Arabia. I chose it because it is a woman’s artistic tradition that reflects this woman’s love for geometric shapes while at the same time is drawing on her cultural heritage.
The prayer rug on the floor marks a temporary consecration of ordinary space in order to communicate with God. Women pray in the privacy of their homes. Many Saudi Arabian women have a small chest in their living room where they keep sacred paraphernalia: a prayer rug, a rosary, and a Quran, clean and perfumed. When it is time to pray, they unroll their prayer rug towards Mecca to create an intimate sacred space for a few minutes. In this exhibit, in both the study model and the installation, the prayer rugs are facing east.
Mihrab is Arabic for a place for prayer retreat. It is also the most elaborately ornamented spot inside a mosque. It is a holy compass that orients worshippers towards Mecca. My project departs from the mosque imagery because I create a figurative representation, controversial in Islamic art. Hence, its presence calls into question the complexity of Arab woman’s contemporary identity. Are they oppressed and weak or resilient and powerful? In what ways does the Islamic faith shape their identities?
This is a work in progress. My goals are to represent Arab-American women as people we can identify with and for Arab art to claim the space it deserves in our contemporary art world.