Harem #18 2009

Lalla Essaydi made this image, Harem #18, using photography, but there's a lot of painting in it too. I imagine her carefully considering each colour choice, each pattern, each mark, as if it were a brushstroke on a canvas. I sympathize with Essaydi's approach. This feels like the kind of image that emerges slowly, through trial, error, and intuition. Just look at the way the blue of the wall sings against the brown of the carved wood! It is an image filled with textures - the smooth coolness of the tiles, the rough grain of the wood, the soft fabric of the woman's clothing, the rich, deep blues and browns that evoke a sense of mystery and tradition. It reminds me of Matisse's odalisques, but with a contemporary, feminist twist. Essaydi is in conversation with the past, reimagining it through her own lens. And in doing so, she invites us to see the world in a new light, too, as if she’s painted that light herself.