CRITIQUE OF THE REPRESENTATION OF MUSLIM WOMEN IN ORIENTALIST PAINTINGS: LALLA ESSAYDI AND THE RECONTEXTUALIZATION OF ORIENTALISM

Abstract

Edward Said argues that the West has always been biased toward the East. The opinions about the East are largely based on stereotypes developed in 19th-century artwork and disseminated by Europeans mostly through art. In her photographic works, Lalla Essaydi challenges these Western stereotypes of Muslim culture and offers a new perspective on issues of female identity in the Muslim world. Although there is some research that examines Orientalist paintings from different perspectives, a few studies focus on the representation of Muslims in 19th century Orientalist paintings and analyze them in comparison with contemporary artworks. This study discusses the representation of Muslim women in Orientalist art and the ways in which this representation is critiqued and restaged by Essaydi. The comparison of the two artworks shows that the perception of female identity has changed over the years. Whereas in Orientalist painting the veil was considered an object of exoticism and veiled Middle Eastern women are seen as oppressed and part of a mystical world, in Essaydi's works the veil is the symbol of modesty and women are symbolized as individuals from the real world rather than part of a male fantasy.