Harem Revisited #46ab 2013

Editor: Lalla Essaydi's mixed-media piece, "Harem Revisited #46ab," created in 2013, immediately strikes me as both beautiful and unsettling. The calligraphy on the women's skin, combined with the opulent textiles, creates a complex, layered image. What’s your take on this work? Curator: Ah, yes, Essaydi. I always find myself pondering what lies beneath the surface with her work. The 'Harem' series itself, to me, it’s about reclaiming and questioning the orientalist fantasy, turning it on its head. The women, adorned and yet... marked. Those aren’t just pretty patterns, are they? They are inscriptions, writings… but indecipherable to many Western viewers, rendering them silent. Do you think that silence is intentional? Editor: Absolutely, I think so. It's like a secret language, or maybe a way to reclaim a narrative that’s been imposed upon them. Like they're rewriting their own story onto themselves. The textiles also seem to play a big role? Curator: Oh, indeed. Fabric and pattern scream of wealth, tradition. But look closely; it is all surface, flattened somewhat by the photographic lens. Think about it— the "harem" was often depicted as a space of opulent languor. Here, Essaydi gives these women presence and power within what may have once been seen as a gilded cage. She creates tension, right? Editor: That tension is what grabbed me in the first place. It's like, they're beautiful, but they're not passive. Curator: Exactly! And the calligraphy covering the skin is especially thought provoking; covering that which is considered sensuous, that skin that has been considered as something purely aesthetic and superficial throughout the times.. And covering it with language! It reminds us of voice and control... Perhaps, one of them, at least. What is a “voice”? It’s also that expression coming from within. In that cultural and historical context. It all adds to the weight of what Essaydi's exploring, this intricate dance between perception and reality. Editor: Wow, I never would have pieced all of that together on my own. Thanks for illuminating all of that! Curator: My pleasure! Isn’t it wonderful how a single artwork can open up entire worlds of meaning and contemplation? I still can't get enough, myself.