façade through the façade

Façade through the façade

The mashrabiya is an ornate latticework screen traditionally found in homes and courtyards. Informally translated as “Harem Window”, the mashrabiya circulated fresh air, filtered sunlight, and acted as a kind of ‘architectural veil’ wherein women and families could gather and “see, without being seen”. In Façade through the Façade, a site-specific installation that expands on Leila Fatemi’s ongoing series, Disorienting Orientalism, the vinyl mashrabiya frames the viewer’s access to a seemingly unending collection of Orientalist fantasy paintings assembled behind the window. Making the viewer complicit in an apparent invasion of privacy, what Fatemi reveals and conceals is not incidental. Merging Orientalist harem fictions with Islamic architecture, the work creates a voyeuristic environment where the viewer is invited to challenge their reading of the scenes behind the screen.

Full exhibition essay available via Xpace Cultural Centre