Ahh, I knew this would happen. I’ve told you once before, I’m PSYCHIC.
Stuck in the same position once again, I got hold of a copy of the London Paper on my way home. It’s sort of becoming a routine now.. Oww. Anyway, so I’m skimming through the paper and I catch a headline;
“Protesters trash gallery of Muslim artist’s pictures”
So as I mentioned in my previous post, Sarah Maple would definitely get mixed feedback on her artwork. She was holding an exhibition at a West London gallery when she received abusive phone calls and threatening messages by many Muslim’s who were greatly offended by her work.
I think she realises herself what her work is about and what message she is trying to send out. Not only what the paintings mean to her, but what it can mean to other people.
The SaLon Gallery on Westbourne Grove had its doors and windows smashed. It was even under police surveillance because of protests over the exhibition. Gallery chiefs were furious and called the police because of the smashed windows and abusive phone calls that Sarah was receiving. She even received hateful emails with negative feedback about her work which reached up to about 12 a-day.
I think it’s safe to say that Sarah truly fears nothing. An image of her wearing a headscarf with a cigarette in her mouth and holding two melons against her breasts was published against the article which I think gave the impression, “I don’t give a f**k”.
I don’t think I know of anyone else apart from Sarah Maple who would feel so strongly about Islam and Sex. Her work definitely means a lot to her and she will carry on painting about the things she feels and believes. How the public perceive this is a different story.
Her show, ‘This Artist Blows’, will carry on running till mid-November.
Stuck in the same position once again, I got hold of a copy of the London Paper on my way home. It’s sort of becoming a routine now.. Oww. Anyway, so I’m skimming through the paper and I catch a headline;
“Protesters trash gallery of Muslim artist’s pictures”
So as I mentioned in my previous post, Sarah Maple would definitely get mixed feedback on her artwork. She was holding an exhibition at a West London gallery when she received abusive phone calls and threatening messages by many Muslim’s who were greatly offended by her work.
I think she realises herself what her work is about and what message she is trying to send out. Not only what the paintings mean to her, but what it can mean to other people.
The SaLon Gallery on Westbourne Grove had its doors and windows smashed. It was even under police surveillance because of protests over the exhibition. Gallery chiefs were furious and called the police because of the smashed windows and abusive phone calls that Sarah was receiving. She even received hateful emails with negative feedback about her work which reached up to about 12 a-day.
I think it’s safe to say that Sarah truly fears nothing. An image of her wearing a headscarf with a cigarette in her mouth and holding two melons against her breasts was published against the article which I think gave the impression, “I don’t give a f**k”.
I don’t think I know of anyone else apart from Sarah Maple who would feel so strongly about Islam and Sex. Her work definitely means a lot to her and she will carry on painting about the things she feels and believes. How the public perceive this is a different story.
Her show, ‘This Artist Blows’, will carry on running till mid-November.
13 comments:
i know of another muslim artist who focuses on sex. not sure about the religon side, but shes apparently a practising muslim and her works mainly of girls masterbating. ghada amer. check her out hinz
i will do :)
good work seher. keep it going!
thank you! what do you think so far?
I read about that artist in the paper..kind of a controversial topic.
Its her western upringing, versus her eastern roots (Muslim roots).
Its difficult to have an opinion on her work. On the one hand she's taken a risk and is being honest in her artwork, but its also blasphemous and I can understand how ppl can take offence to it. Showing a woman in a hijab as well as showing her naked.. is dangerous. Art or plain disrespectful? Maybe this was the easiet way to get noticed?
I understand where she's coming from, but I don't know if I agree with it.
What exactly is she trying to say through her art?
BTW Seher, first time I clicked on the link, very interesting. What exactly is this for? xx
Hi there Faz, thanks for reading!
I absolutely agree with you when you say, you know where she's coming from but you dont know if you agree with it. That's exactly how I felt when i first read the article.
I dont quite know what it is that makes her paint such dramatic and bold images when she knows it'll definitely be offensive. But actually i dont think it's for attention either. It's hard to say really, i'm really confused now! I just hope she fully understands how many people she has offended and that Islam being seen in the way she does is very very wrong.
Thanks for reading though and i'm glad you have an opinion on it too. It isn't really for anything particular. I just found this topic very interesting so thought i'd write about it :) xx
Being controversial has become a big trend in today's society, including the celebrity culture and the design industry. All these people are trying to make a name for themselves by doing extreme things to get noticed. I don't know much about Sarah Maple, but she strikes me as a little naive - was she expecting double page spreads in the London Paper about her latest work? A person putting themselves out there has to be WORTHY to receive honourable attention. I commend her for trying, because we're all striving to make it somewhere in the world, but she's taken a very big risk, and has offended an entire religion in the process, a religion which she happens to follow.
Following on from that point, her art itself does not make sense. Her implications in my opinion are that Islam is corrupted...I don't believe this is true, because as a religion Islam is pure, it is only the individual people within it who are responsible for their actions. To me, this artwork is almost accusatory, and she's pretty much generalised women of Islam. I'm not going to lie, the world is full of corrupt people, and nobody is perfect (myself included), but by making "statements" like this, Maple is simply both fuelling anger from the public, and spreading the message that it is common for Muslim women to let their tits hang out despite wearing hijab. In one of my recent workshops on the Graphic Communication degree I'm on, I was taught that Less is More. When you compare Maple's work to the Shirin Neshat's, the subtlety and dark undertones of Islam in Neshat's work is so much stronger than the crudeness and plain disrespect in Maple's. This artist should learn the art of communicating with an audience by drawing them in, because all she's done at the moment is repel the public.
Wooo, essay.
Dare I even comment? In a nutshell, a girl which has probably had her religion portrayed to her in a way which has led her to believe that she can say, write, draw and do anything. But in actual fact, to provoke is to choke. Especially in a society like this.
My initial point of conflict was her motive? What is her motive? I would love to just talk to her and have her convey to me what was going on in her head. Naivety certainly played a part in it though.
Sex in itself is a topic of taboo, in less extreme's now than ever. But even still, that's in the 'western world'. Regardless of which part of the world you're from, sex in islam is not something to speak about with a speakerphone.
Its actually come to a time where art is either completely misconstrued, or just plain white stupid. Where there's no meaning, there's a pretentious idea waiting to collect the cash. Money talks bullshit walks.
I can't wait till it gets to video's of people slaughtering themselves, because really and truly, with the shit going around now, that's what it's gonna come to.
round of applause for the one and only AMZ i say *claps*.
a few points to mention.. generalising the women of Islam. 100% true! in this follow up article, one thing was that a woman in hijaab came right in the middle of Sarah's exhibition and started creating a scene and accused Sarah of offending all women in Islam. And I totally agree with that statement because she actually has. I dont think Sarah realised herself how much she'll get critized for this simply because she claims to be a practising Muslim herself. I don't get it. In one bit in the article she says "i didnt want to upset my mum". so she feels its okay to paint all this, includes an explicit video of herself masturbating and to top it all off, she actually doesn't give a shit. now wouldnt that upset your mum anyway? cooooome on!
also, how you said she's just trying to get noticed. i guess that is the case, but going this deep is abit too much regardless of what she thinks. I think we should just wait and see what else she has in mind and what she'll paint. she may just come up with some impressive stuff later..
last but not least.. Sarah needs to start communicating with her audience rather than making haters, thats true too. But dont you think she has the right to communicate to her audience in the way she does already? I mean there might be people out there who totally connect with what she's saying and may appreciate her work fully. Dont know who those people are, but there must be some! Shirin Neshat's work is amazing, i love it. Exactly how you said it, her work is so subtle yet has a strong meaning. But then again, Shirin Neshat's view of Islam and Sarah Maple's view of Islam are two completely different things.
oh saj i didnt even get a chance to read your comment, you got there before me. im reading now..
Maple's motive.. i'd love to ask her that too.
Seher, its Farah B, forgot to write tht. lol xx
I can't believe u've started up a blog. Ace stuff..i was beginning to think tht our generation had turned fb obsessed and lacked stimulating discussions..
Let's just put Sarah down as one confused individual, who needs to re-connect.
I think she was trying to portray that women in Islam, particularly the women who wear hijab whom are oppressed. The way she's expressed herself has created huge offence.
To some degree, she may have a point about women being oppressed in patriarchal society. It is the morallising mullahs who distort religion to serve their own needs.
I'm not a feminist btw..
In Pakistan, and other countries where Shari'a law is prevails, men can announce the triple talaq and divorce the woman instantly.. I've read about lots of cases where women are treated badly.
(Doing Islamic law at the mo)
However, alot of women feel liberated wearing the hijab. They feel empowered. Men do not look at their physical appearance as to whistle at them down the street. Rather, they are obliged to listen to what they are saying!
oh its you farah! nice one, didnt realise you read this! you brought up some good points in your comment :) keep reading and commenting love! xx
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