essaydi interview 2005

8/6/2019 Essaydi Interview 2005

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Lalla Essaydi

Converging erritories

Essay an d Interview by Amanda Carlson

( P ~ @ ; : ( 0 6 SpowerHouse Books New York, NY In conjunction with an exhibition at the Laurence Miller Gallery, New York~ .


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Lalla Essaydi

For the past four years, I have been working on a body of pbotographs that are set in my native Morocco, in alarge, unoccupied house owned by my family. Until fairly recently, llly work was preocCllpied with this physicalspace, lor it is to here, to this house, that a young woman was sent when she disobeyed, stepped outside thepermissible space. Accompanied by servants, bu t spoken to by no one, she would spend a month here alone. Thus

tbe house is both a literal and psychological space, a space marked by memory. More recently, however, afterhaving returned to this house many times while making these photographs, and thinking about my own complexrelationship as an artist to this space of childhood, I have become aware of another, less tangible, more ambiguousspace-the space of the imagination, of self-creation.

Creating these photographs was performative. Applying henna is a very painstaking process, and cannot be interrupted, so the models, friends, and l'lInily acquaintances were unable to rest, sometimes for as long as ninehours. I do evelything I can to make the process easy on them. 1 create a whole atmosphere for them so that theywon't be bored. We play music and tell stories, I provide food and drink, and we only proceed after a clay spentin rehearsal, so that they know exactly what to expect. But despite the demanding process, the women participate

because they feel that they are contributing to the greater emancipation of Arab women, and at the same timeconveying to a Western audience their very rich traditions, oftenmisuncle rstood in the West. They see themselvesas part of a small feminist movement.

Henna is a crucial element in the life of a Moroccan woman, and is associated with the major celebrations in he rlife. It is Grst applied when a girl reaches puberty, to mark her passage into womanhood. When she is a bride itis used to enhance he r charms for he r husband. Finally, it is applied when she has he r first child, to celebratelertilily. Especially when that firstborn is male. .

It is obvious that while my photographs are expressions of my personal history, they can also be taken as reflections on the life of Arab women in general. There are continuities, of course, between Arab cultures, but I amullcomfortable thinking of myself as a representative of all Arab women. Art call only come from the heart of anindividual artist, and I am much too aware of the range of traditions; and laws among the dHTerent Arab nationsto presume to speak for everyone. My work is an exploration of my: experience growing up as an Arab womanwithin Islamic cuI hIre, seen now from a very different perspective. It is the story of my quest to find my voice,the unique voice of an artist, not all attempt to present myself as a victim, which would deprive me of the verycomplexity I wish to express.

These photographs have led me to a greater understanding of the iinportance of architectural space in Islamiccl.llt1.lre. Traditionally, the presence of men has deGned public spaceS: the streets, meeting places, places of work.Women, al l the other hand, have been conl1ned to private spaces, the architecture oUlle home. Physical boundaries

deline cultural ones, hidden hierarchies dictate patterns of habi,tation.Thus crossing a cultural threshold intoprohibited "space" in a metaphorical sense can result in literal confinement in an actual space. Many Arab


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women today may feel the space ofconfinembt to be a more psychological one, bu t its origins are, [ thinkembedded in architectural space. In my photographs, I am constraining women within space and also confiningthem to their "proper" place, a place h@ndec\ by walls and controlled by men. But my work reaches beyondIslamic culture to evoke the Western fascination, as expressed in painting, with the odalisque, the veil. and, ofcourse, the harem.

I do not intend my work simply as a critiqlle of either culture-Arab or Western. [ am going beyond mere

critique to a more active, even subversive, e11gagernent with culhlral patterns, in order to get beyond stereotypesand convey my own experience as an Arab woman. In employing calligraphic writing, I am practicing a sccredIslamic art that is usually inaccessible to wOI\'len. To apply this writing in henna, an adornment worn and appliedonly by women, adds a further subversive twist. Thus the henna/calligraphy can be seen as both a veil and as an

, expressive statement. Yet the two are not so much in opposition as interwoven. The "veil" of decoration and concealment has not been rejected, but instead has been integrated with the expressive intention of calligraphy.

, Although it is the calligraphy that is lIsually ,associated with "meaning" (as opposed to mere decoration), in thevisual medium of my photographs, the "veil" of henna in fact enhances the e"'jJressivity of the images. Ily thesame token, the male art of calligraphy has been brought into a world of female experience from which it hastraditionally been excluded. Also, by choosing to lise a number of women, I subvert their imposed silence. These

women "speak" through the language of femininity to each other and to the house, just as my photographs haveenabled me to speak. TIlrough these images I am able to suggest the complexity of Arab female identity-as Ihave known i t -and the tension between hierarchy and fluidity at the heart of Arab culture.

As an artist now living in the West, I have become aware of another space-besides the house of my gir lhoodanother interior space, one of "converging territories." I will always cany that house within me, bu t my currentlife bas added other dimensions. TI,ere is the very different space I inhabit in the West, a space of independenceand mobility. It is from there that I can return to the landscape of my childhood in Morocco, and consider thesespaces with detachment and new understanding. When I look at these spaces now, I see two cultl,lres that haveshaped me, and one can be distorted when looked at through the "Orientalist" lens of the West. This newperspective has led me, in "Converging Territories," to sihlate my subjects in a non-specific space, Olle which 110longer identifies itself as a particular house in Jviorocco, but rather as the multivalent space of their own imaginationand making. In these images, the text is pattly autobiographical. Here I speak of my thoughts and experiencesdirectly, both as a woman caught somewhere between past and present, as well as between "East" and "West,"and also as an artist, exploring the langudge in which to "spedle" from this uncertain space.

But in the absence of any specificity of place, this record of personal e"'jJerience provides a new kind of space forthe subjects. They have become woven into and lI1drked by a text that is their only home, a home that is beingcontinuously revised along with the experience of the writer. They have been released f rom a space of memory,into the nomadic home of the present, where they too are being revised, where each encounter with the vieweropens new questions. Beyond the reach of simple culhlral naming, these words constitute irreducible marks of

existence. They have carried me, like the women in my images, to a new threshold-but is that not all there reallyever is for any woman, for anyone)

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A Conversation with Lalla Essaydi ,

AC In your film, The Echo oj Silence, you say ' 'I'm dreaming about freedom." What type of freedom are you talking about?LE It's about the freedom of being in my work-my whole work (my paintings, my photography). When I'm in Saudi Arabia, they call methe Moroccan. In Morocco, they call me the Saudi. In the West, 1 am someone from a different culture. 1 had to create my own space. Mywork gives me a sense of belonging that 1 couldn 't find in a physical space.AC Some artists speak to larger issues tha t are informed by their life history. Your work seems to be much more focused at the startingpoint, beginning with the autobiographical. How important is the use of "I" in the text that is repeated in your film and inm3ny of yourphotographs?LE All my work is autobiographical. I can only work with something tha t I am acutely aware of or familiar with. And that can only come frommy personal experience.AC Tell me a little bit about your process.LE Creating these photographs is performative and labor intensive. First, writing the text on the fabric takes weeks, sometimes more. Oncethat is donE, we proceed to rehearsal before I start shooting.

My photography is often colorful and painterly because I come from a painting background. But most of the time I think a lot moreabout the content when 1 am shooting a photograph-what a gesture or a gaze could mean.

When I show the photographs in a gallery they become evocative of the moment 1 spend with these women, but are nothing like theexperience I go through when I'm in the process of making the work. That's what brought me to think of using film or video, todocument that, to bring in an element of time. The Echo oj Silence is the first of three films. It's going to be a triptych. I' m using the littlegirl, the teenager, and the adult woman.AC What is the basis for the image of the women and tlle young girls? What is it about the female body that as it gets older it needs to becovered?LE This is about the progression of age and the veil. Traditionally, a girl started wearing the veil as early as when she was ten years old. It isan abandoned practice now. Most women in Morocco don't wear tl1e veil any longer. Now, it is a simply psychological symbol.AC Why are you using diptychs, triptychs, and segmented images?LE When 1 first thought of fragment ing my images, it was when I was writing the text and thinking of a book format, my diary. So, the imagesbecame chapters and pages. In my most recent work, the images became even more segmented 111an tlley were before. The need to writegrows more and more each time. I go to the space of memory, therefore I need more space to write more chapters.AC In many of your photographs, the women become almost consumed by cloth. In one image, the veil goes on and on. Why is it becomingso long?LE 1 just feel the need to write more and more. Increasingly it's becoming my diary. At the end of evelY session of drawing I would hy some-thing new. And here, writing started to be doubled and layered.AC What is the significance oflayering Arabic text?LE With calligraphy, the more layered and more intricate type is f iner- the words can merge into each other and 1 can still read them. Itbecomes a challenge for me because I haven't been trained to write calligraphy. The layering also comes from the expanding complexity ofmy life as an Arab artist living in the U.S.AC Who does all of the wri ting?LE I do.AC So, how did you learn it?


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E I approached it as a drawing, so you can imagine how long it takes me to write a complete text. And so far I have only used the simplestJr]11 of calligraphy ..C When would women do this type of writing?E We don't use calligraphy as an everyday form of writing. It is a form of high art, an d takes years of training to learn. I t was only recentlyltroduced in 0lL!" art schools in Morocco. And it wasn' t accessible to Moroccan women in the past.,C How long does it take for each piece?.E A very long time. I always takes two weeks, some times more. I do get help for the writing of the cloth.

,C So, the h.enna that the women do is not considered writing because it doesn 't incorporate letters? !t's "just design"?.E Yes. The designs of henna come from tile and floral design found in Islamic architecture, and from embroidery design. But when itames to writing the text for my work with the henna, we don't write with a pencil. When henna is mixed with water it becomes a paste, notJiquid. We llse syringes to write faster and have control of" the design.

,C While most of your photographs focus on the female subject, some of your more recent work focuses on objects that have been written'pon. What are these objects?,E These objects are used traditionally in preparation of wedding ceremonies. 111e eggs, usually used dur ing the henna ceremony, symbol-ze fertility. The sugar is to sweeten and enhance the bride's move to married life. Then there are bLmdles, used to tie things together to gett ready for her. All these are just symbols and traditions that I am using as a metaphor.I.C You were doing this in the studio, or the house in Morocco?"E In the house in Morocco. I haven't tried to worlc in another space since I started this body of work four years ago.I.C So, you really do spend a lot of time in that house!"E I do. And the idea of the silence comes from my own experience of the space in this house. As a young girl I spent many long days there.t is truly a space marked by memory and recollection.I.C You were sent there?.E Yes. I was sen t there when I transgressed what was expected of me. I spent long days alone in silence there , with only a house Iceeper as:ompany. This is where the title of the film came from.I.C You obviously had a lot of time to think while YOlL were there. What was it like to not speak for this long?LE It was ter rifying at first. I was very worried that my h'ansgressions could result in further punishment. But I started exploring the house111d imagining all the other women who were there before me, and wondering what the circumstances were that had sent tl1em there. It's111 old and large house, a haunting space. I explored the places in the house where I couldn't go before, because its huge.

Now, when1

go back to shoot in that place, it always takes me a while to readjust to my new situation as a willing visitor. I rememberwhen I started photographing there, I took so many pictures in a short time. I jnst wanted to go away. But after many visits I started to lovethe honse.

In my installations I have tried to recreate that space in Morocco. To create a space that is based on my memories of that house, how 1feel when I am in that space. I want to create the feeling of it. So, J started thinking of my diary, an d this is how the installation came aboutin the form of a book. The banners are pages of the book (the images of the women). The film, to me, is a doorway into the women's lives,for people to see. 1 was hoping to merge the sound, the photography, and the film as one. I just so want to bring the feeling that I had, andthat I now have, in that space in Morocco-and also convey the experience that I have with these women. But I have to bring it the way I seeit or feel it, not how anyone else would, even if they go to that house in Morocco.

Amanda CarlsonAugust 21 , 2 0 0 4

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essaydi interview 2005

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