How Feminism Evolved in the Realm of Of Contemporary Art in South Asia and the Middle East

How Feminism evolved in the realm of Contemporary Art in South Asia and the Middle East

 Rabia Ayub Bhatti

MA ADS Spring Semester

ADS 5301 Research Methods and Academic for Art and Design I

Instructor: Ms. Aisha Abid Hussain

Word Count: 3006

Beaconhouse National University

Pakistan

May 20, 2015

Table of Contents

1. Research Question ……………………………………………………………………. 03
2. Abstract    ………………………………………………………………………………….. 03
3. Introduction and History …………………………………………………………… 04
4. Literature Review

• The Second Sex, Simone De Beauvoir …………………………….. 05
• Review; Remaking Women: Feminism and Modernity in the

Middle East, Hoda Elsadda …………………………………………….. 06

• Sri Lankan housemaids in the Middle East ……………………… 08
• Can the Subaltern Speak? ………………………………………………. 10
• The Skin She Wears- Naiza Khan …………………………………….. 11

1. Research Methodology ……………………………………………………………… 12
2. Interviews

• Interview with Hamida Khatri ……………………………………. 13
• Interview with Faiza Butt …………………………………………… 17

1. Conclusion …………………………………………………………………………………… 29
2. Bibliography ………………………………………………………………………………… 31

Research Question

How Feminism evolved in the realm of contemporary art in South Asia and the Middle East

Abstract

In this paper my focus is going to be a discussion on gender boundaries in the Middle East and South Asia, mainly Pakistan, and how there is a need to bridge the gaps that are created by these gender confines. The feminist movement in the 60s, in the West had a way different objective than the feminist concerns of our society. The West might have moved on and achieved their intended purpose of reforming issues relating to domestic violence, sexual harassment, but our part of the world is still challenged by the basic issues of gender equality in the work environment, social and political situations, and preset notions and expectations from each gender. In this paper, my focus will be on the art works of two artists who have feminism threads running through their art practice, and their journey as individuals in this field. This comparison will be in relation to the feminist researches of writers such as Simone De Beauvoiur, Gayatri Spivak and Hoda Elsadda on how feminism has evolved in the Middle East and South Asia over the years.

Introduction

History

The 1960s were a period of civil rights, gay and lesbian rights movement and protests against wars. It was also the period where female artists wanted to address the issues of women in a male dominant society and gain equal rights as men within the established art world. The feminist art movement began during this decade and flourished in the 70s. Feminist art talked about the lives and experiences of women as well as to change the basis of the contemporary art making process. It was then that women themselves started using communicative media to produce their own visual and verbal messages for women’s liberation. Artists like Louis Bourgeois and Eva Hesse were exploring themes around feminist art like, domestic life and issues, the female body and personal experiences. Barbara Kruger is one of the most acknowledged female artists to use visual and verbal messages to communicate their ideas. All throughout the waves of feminism, the 'male gaze' has remained a dominant universal issue, intensifying throughout the years through that of bold statements made by artists like Barbara Kruger herself. 

Feminist art embodied a shift from modernism, where art produced by women was put in a different class to works made by men. Or, in the words of Griselda Pollock and Roszika Parker, “a separation of Art with a capital ‘A’ from art made by women produced a ‘feminine stereotype’.”^[1]

The 1980s saw the emergence of feminist forms in Postmodernism after the feminist movement grew out of the struggle of obtaining freedom of expression social, material, sexual and political aspects of life. Since then, feminist movements started emerging all over the world from the US to Spain, from Sweden to Japan. Women from Asia and Africa started emerging in large numbers onto the international art scene in the late 80s as contemporary art became more and more popular all over the world.

Literature Review

De Beauvoir, Simone. The Second Sex. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, New York, 1953.

Simone De Beauvoir explains in this book why man continues to be the first sex in the Western Society and how women have been underprivileged and treated as inferiors throughout the course of history. Women have been objectified whereas men have been the subjects and existents. Beauvoir’s objective through this book is to give equal treatment to both men and women, not just one sex. According to her, women have been at a disadvantage in comparison to men, similar to a racial minority. This secondary standing has been imposed by cultural and social traditions under the dominant and purposeful control of man.

I come from a world similar to that of Simone De Beauvoir, where coeducation, economic independence for women, male household dominance (father/husband) are commonplace. According to the author, the only way a woman can transcend to the social status of man is by emerging as a free independent woman. The world where I come from, the majority of the society disregards all of the efforts of a woman towards her own independence. Some can say it is looked down upon to be not dependent on a male figure (be it father or husband). Similar to the author’s surroundings, women in our country are objectified to the extent where a woman is no better than a sexual object, a fertility product and a home maker. Women are expected to be married, to the opposite sex, and create and raise a family by a certain age. For a woman, choosing a career over family, choosing not to rely on another person is considered selfish and immature. On the same note, a man is expected to be strong and tough, be a ‘knight in shining armour’ for his woman, he is expected to provide for the whole family which can include his wife, children, and also parents.