Veil
Using the dual face of the veil to explore different vantage points
A series of paintings that uses the visual metaphor of the veil as a symbol of barriers to understanding and tolerance.
This project began in 2008, when I first started to see images of the atrocities committed against women by the Taliban. It is a series that I have worked on to the present because the subject matter has such far reaching and universal merit. At the time, I thought about the fact that terrorists (all bullies) first attack the most vulnerable. In many of those countries, women’s freedoms were already severely restricted. In those where women were able to exercise free will, it became a propaganda point to subjugate, humiliate, and punish them. My work has always been about power and control, but this was the most graphic example I could imagine of how those forces play out against women.
FIRE - ACRYLIC ON PANEL 36”H X 24”W
Veils are barriers. They obstruct views from both sides. For me, the veil becomes an intriguing way to explore the idea of alternate vantage points. These paintings are about giving voice to contrasting notions, and possibly more important, offering the visual metaphor for the shrouding of truth. I am moved by the compelling humanity that surges from the figures of women in burqas and niqabs (facial veils.) I began painting them over and over in an effort to distill for myself the overwhelming mystery of cloth used to mask, to neutralize. This was challenging for me because my years as a fashion designer were spent creating clothing that was meant to enhance and promote the wearer. Veils have been used since biblical times, carrying a range of symbolic meaning including modesty and deception, as well as sexual intrigue, with its associated suggestions of denial and discovery. Think of bridal veils offering the implication of unwrapping a pristine white candy. I want to make clear that these paintings are not indictments of religious practice. Covering the body for modesty, protection, and respect has been an integral practice of people of many faiths. Distinctive clothing has always been a cultural way of identifying with a group and a declaration of adherence to their ideas and practices. This series sets about testing ideas of free will in societies that do not offer women choice. Some of the VEIL paintings incorporate verbiage from the American suffrage movement, the civil rights movement, and poetry from the Arab world and my own, because these are issues that all people share, regardless of barriers made of fabric, stone, or steel.
SILENCE AS A VERB Acrylic on panel 30"H X 40"W
FLIGHT- Acrylic on panel 40”WX 30”H.
One of four works in the "Plaza" group using the consistent grouping of figures. Each is treated differently in an effort to tell different versions of the same story. Flight focuses on the central figure suggesting the idea of escape, but also transcendence. Light illuminates the veil.
IS THIS FOREVER - Acrylic on panel 40”WX 30”H.
One of four works in the "Plaza" group using the identical, consistent grouping of figures. Each is treated differently in an effort to tell different versions of the same story. Imagining a better day for all oppressed people: there will be a day when you hear me speak; a day for tolerance; a day without fear; a day for industry; a day for learning; a day for healing.
THISTLES - Acrylic on panel 40”WX 30”H.
CHRYSALIS - Acrylic on canvas 32”W X 22”H
IF THERE WERE RAIN - Acrylic on panel 36”H X 24”W
WHOSE SHAME - Acrylic on panel 24”WX 36”H
IF THERE WERE RAIN - Acrylic on panel 36”H X 24”W
In writing this poem, I am saying that every voice that is silenced is a loss for us all.
If there were rain
It could not fall upon her face
If there were stars
Her veil would mute their reflection
If there were wind
It could not lift the hair from her neck
If there were flowers
Their scent would be lost to her
And the sun’s promise of light is rebuffed
Bringing only heat Only heat
If there were justice we would not be denied her smile
Or her song
RISE - Acrylic on panel 24” WX 36”H
WHITE VEIL - Acrylic on panel 30"H X 40" W.
REMEMBRANCE - Acrylic on panel 24”WX 36”H
Chrysalis is the first piece I did in VEIL series. Thinking about the promise of “virgins in heaven” as a reward for men, and wondering whose heaven? I thought of dark figures emerging into the promise of a soft garden instead. It is also the most recent, as I have gone back to rework it and have tried to lift the cloth to suggest metamorphosis and transformation.
WATCHER - Conte’ and Charcoal on paper 14”H X 11”W
JUSTIFY - Acrylic on panel 20”WX 20”H
SECRET SKY-JANNAH Acrylic on panel 24”H X 24”
CHRYSALIS - Acrylic on canvas 32”W X 22”H .Chrysalis is the first piece I did in VEIL series. Thinking about the promise of “virgins in heaven” as a reward for men, and wondering whose heaven? I thought of dark figures emerging into the promise of a soft garden instead. It is also the most recent, as I have gone back to rework it and have tried to lift the cloth to suggest metamorphosis and transformation.
FIRE -Acrylic on panel 24”WX 36”H You’ve fashioned a world to your size A tiny world where all promise is starved Make a small fire Feed it with ignorance Watch it suck the nourishment from your children Feed it with hate Watch it draw the breath from your gardens Feed it with contempt Watch it blacken your history Feed it with fear Watch it suffocate your future The fire grows large now Smoke chokes all that was possible FIRE FIRE FIRE
FLIGHT- Acrylic on panel 40”WX 30”H. One of four works in the "Plaza" group using the identical, consistent grouping of figures. Each is treated differently in an effort to tell different versions of the same story. Flight focuses on the central figure suggesting the idea of escape, but also transcendence. Light illuminates the veil.
IF THERE WERE RAIN- Acrylic on panel24”WX 36”H. In writing this poem, I am saying that every voice that is silenced is a loss for us all. If there were rain It could not fall upon her face. If there were stars Her veil would mute their reflection. If there were wind It could not lift the hair from her neck. If there were flowers Their scent would be lost to her. And the sun’s promise of light is rebuffed Bringing only heat Only heat. If there were justice we would not be denied her smile Or her song.
IS THIS FOREVER- Acrylic on panel 40”WX 30”H. One of four works in the "Plaza" group using the identical, consistent grouping of figures. Each is treated differently in an effort to tell different versions of the same story. Imagining a better day for all oppressed people: there will be a day when you hear me speak; a day for tolerance; a day without fear; a day for industry; a day for learning; a day for healing.
SECRET SKY-JANNAH- Acrylic on panel 24”H X 24”. Envisioning the Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Rūmī poem. Rumi was Persian, 13th century poet, mystic and scholar. "This is Love: to fly toward a secret sky, To cause a hundred veils to fall each moment. First, to let go of life. In the end, to take a step without feet; to regard this world as invisible, and to disregard what appears to the self....".
JUSTIFY- Acrylic on panel 20”WX 20”H. "“Whatever a 'superior' group has will be used to justify its superiority, and whatever an 'inferior' group has will be used to justify its plight.” Gloria Steinem
REMEMBRANCE- Acrylic on panel 24”WX 36”H .Tied to obscurity by each thread of the veil, We will be swept from remembrance Like fine sand carried by the wind. JM "You may forget But let me tell you this Someone in some future time Will think of us" Sappho
RISE - Acrylic on panel 24” WX 36”H. You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I’ll rise” From Still I Rise by Maya Angelou
WATCHER - Conte’ and Charcoal on paper 14”H X 11”W “There is nothing that give more assurance than a mask” Colette -My Apprenticeships. The notion held by some in the west that a burqa is an instrument of domination is something many find insulting. Many women take comfort in wearing it for various reasons. My protest is on behalf of those for whom it is not a choice. My perspective makes it impossible for me to understand the concept of religious practice not being a matter of choice.
THISTLES- Acrylic on panel 40”WX 30”H. ..."under loss and under hard words, under steamrollers under your heart, it doesn't matter. They can live forever. The seeds of thistles push from nowhere, forming a rose of spikes that spreads all summer until it stands in a glory of needles, blossoms, blazing purple clubs and fists.”
WHITE VEIL- Acrylic on panel 30"H X 40" W. The Veil becomes a screen, pinned between the figure and the viewer. The communication obscured. She is amplified by the projection. The lit globe above is to suggest illumination, referencing the metal lanterns in places like Morocco and Tunisia. The patterning on the cloth is an interpretation of a Persian motif.
WHOSE SHAME- Acrylic on panel 24”WX 36”H The work addresses the issue of responsibility. The world, despite heroic efforts by many, has been able to do little to reach across borders to protect. We watch, we write, we pray, we donate and still there continues to be another Ruwanda, Bosnia Auschwitz, Syria and and and ….
SILENCE-AS A VERB- Acrylic on panel 30"H X 40"W A compilation of writings on the subject of the act of silencing, repressing speech, withholding speech; being silent in the face of wrongdoing. It incorporates writings from the civil rights movement, the suffrage movement and classic poetry from the Arab world. It includes passages from such poets as Forugh Farrokhzad, May Zeyadeh and Langston Hughes, as well as writings by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Martin Luther King.