Harem #5 2009

Lalla Essaydi made Harem #5 by photographing a woman lying on patterned fabrics. It reminds me of making a painting, where you keep layering and layering until something emerges. Here, the artist has repeated geometric shapes to create an overwhelming background and foreground. It’s kind of dizzying! I imagine Essaydi carefully arranging each element, like a painter composing a canvas. What was she thinking about as she created this scene? Was she trying to challenge Western perceptions of the harem? Or exploring the complexities of female identity in Islamic culture? The henna on the woman's skin and the fabric patterns all seem to merge, obscuring the individual. It makes me think about how identity can be both a source of empowerment and a form of confinement. Like a conversation between artists across time, Essaydi’s work builds on the Orientalist paintings of the 19th century, but with a contemporary perspective. There is no singular meaning here. The image embraces ambiguity and encourages us to question what we think we know.