Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Gender Studies and Sexuality, 2024
Year: 2024
DOI:
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Visual Dialogues on Gender: Women’s Perspectives from the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar
Susana Fernandez Blanco
ABSTRACT:
In the dynamic Middle East, art becomes a battlefield for gender narratives, revealing the intricate relationship between tradition, modernisation, and gender identity. Ebtisam Abdulaziz from the UAE, Sarah Abu Abdallah from Saudi Arabia, and Bouthayna Al Muftah from Qatar are three female artists who have challenged gender and sexuality norms in their societies. We compare how these artists use visual art to discourse, challenge, and negotiate gender norms in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. Through her audacious math-art combination, Abdulaziz challenges UAE societal conventions that limit female expression. Abu Abdallah’s striking video installations explore Saudi Arabia’s gender tensions. Al Muftah questions and redefines Qatari female identity via nostalgia and remembrance. Their diverse and complex opinions on how art may examine and reimagine sexuality and gender contribute to global conversation while being profoundly anchored in their surroundings. This research uses a qualitative approach to analyse chosen works and study Gulf contemporary art literature. This article shows the importance of female art in the area. It adds to worldwide awareness of how culture, politics, and identity interact in creative production by concentrating on gender and sexuality concerns. It also shows the range and depth of female viewpoints in Gulf art and how they relate to 21st-century discussions on freedom, power, and identity. This essay highlights the importance of art in communicating and changing social and gender norms in current Middle Eastern art.
keywords: Bouthayna Al Muftah; Contemporary Art in the Middle East; Ebtisam Abdulaziz;
Gender in the Middle East; Sarah Abu Abdallah