Fifty pairs of piercing eyes, all belonging to women living in the UAE stare back at visitors in a new exhibition at Abu Dhabi’s Art Hub.
The black and white photographs, placed on a canvas, are the work of artist Natalia Lasso and they beg the question: “Can you deduce their nationality and religion?”
The 23-year-old Colombian, who goes by the name Ene Lasso, is behind the She series, hosted in the Art Hub as part of the 4th International Art Month Exhibition. Running until December 27, the mixed-media exhibit also includes paintings of three conservatively dressed Muslim women.
The project, which Lasso undertook in July as part of her residency at the hub, was sparked by her own trepidation when she arrived in the UAE two years ago.
“When I came here, I felt like there was this invisible wall that made communication difficult between the local women and the expatriates,” says Lasso, who has a bachelor’s degree in arts from Madrid’s Instituto San Isidro. “I have interacted with Muslim women, especially Moroccan women in Spain, but we wouldn’t see them cover with a burqa. So when I came to the UAE and saw that some women opted to wear it, it came as a cultural shock. When you are new to the culture, you find it difficult because you do not know how to act and you don’t want to be insensitive.”
Lasso met the women she photographed through friends and other artists in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. She explains the focus on the eyes for the series is down to the significance that they hold in Islamic culture.
“I chose this part of the body because of strong meaning,” she says.
“When the ladies are covered with a niqab, the only part you see are their eyes. In some cases, you won’t be able to tell who is Muslim and who isn’t. You just see what makes us all equal, that we are women, and that’s the idea I want people to take away from this.”
Lasso cherishes the stories of every woman she has worked with, but she says the three Muslim women she painted had a profound effect on her perceptions. The paintings depict the different types of traditional clothing and styles worn by women of the faith.
“One of the ladies in the series is a Muslim convert,” she says, referring to a subject with the hijab, whose identity Lasso did not want to reveal. “She told me she had never thought about converting when she was young, but then she started hearing these voices and a calling. She felt like it was a signal and she converted in the UAE.” The other two works depict a Nigerian woman, who also wears a hijab, and an Emirati women in a niqab.
“I want people who aren’t familiar with the Islamic culture to understand that there exist different types of Muslims, and they all choose to cover differently,” Lasso says. “We don’t know that much about this in Europe.
The viewer of these paintings will see these Muslims who dress differently, but share a love for their culture and religion.”
Lasso says the project is a way to underscore the vast culture and diversity within the Muslim world. “The most memorable part was the history these women shared with me,” she says. “As an artist and painter, I am always interested in the social aspect of putting anything together: how they feel being Muslim, how they converted and how they interact with the rest of the world.”
• Natalia Lasso’s work will be on sale as part of the 4th International Art Month Exhibition at Art Hub until December 27. Visit www.adah.ae
aahmed@thenational.ae
