Bullet Revisited #28 Triptych 2013

Lalla Essaydi created this photographic triptych called "Bullet Revisited #28" using pigment on paper. The palette in this piece is really interesting, all these shimmering golds and creams, so rich and layered, it reminds you of the way art can build up, a process of accretion, like memory itself. Look at how Essaydi uses the medium to create texture. The beads seem to be a metaphor for a certain type of female identity. Those tiny beads are like individual acts of construction, each one building towards the larger image. I find the way the woman is presented across three frames incredibly impactful. The one panel with just her feet in it is such a loaded image in terms of sexuality, power and access. Essaydi, like someone such as Shirin Neshat, is an artist who constantly challenges our perceptions. These photographs, with their exquisite detail and symbolic layering, invite us to question not only what we see, but how we see. There is so much here that embraces ambiguity.