From top: ‘Harem #18’ subjects’ bodies and scenery with Arabic calligraphy (2009); view of the written in henna. Unlike the exhibition ‘Beyond Time and Beauty’ at the women in the paintings of the Museum of Modern Art, French Orientalist Jean-Léon Baku, 2013; ‘Converging Gérôme (1824–1904), one of Territories #24’ (2004). her major reference points, Essaydi’s subjects have been given a new voice through this text, even if the writing is not always legible. Last November, Essaydi opened her most recent exhibition, ‘Beyond Time and Beauty’, at the Museum of Modern Art in Baku. This was the latest in a run of countries to represent her work (previously she has shown in America, Syria, Japan, France, the Netherlands and the UK, among others). With 29 works flling the four rooms of the gallery space, the show displayed the full range of her artistic output. Baku, of course, was a highly appropriate location for this show; Azerbaijan itself is a nexus where Europe meets Asia, and the city of Baku has in recent years accumulated all the appurtenances of an upscale Western city – luxury brands, landmark hotels and an invigoratingly international crowd – while retaining its deep-seated Asian character. 34 Baku.
Similarly, says Essaydi, her work is a bridge between both sides of the globe. There’s a possible life where Essaydi would never have achieved so much. Had she stayed in Morocco, she says, she would not have developed the feminist ideas crucial to her work. Her parents sent her to high school in Paris, and in 1977 she moved to Saudi Arabia. “Growing up in our culture, we were very sheltered,” she explains. “So it was when travelling that I started really thinking of independence – that I am an individual. That created such a difference between me and my siblings, especially my sisters, in the sense that I can’t be easily brainwashed,” she says. “Even now it’s strange how, as soon as I go to Morocco, I start to think differently – and that worries me. As soon as that starts happening, I just leave.” Think differently how? “If I walk in the streets of Morocco, I can wear a pair of jeans and a T-shirt exactly like I do in the States, or in Europe. But I don’t feel comfortable about it.” She had two children while living in Saudi, but Essaydi eventually decided to leave for Boston in 1996 so they could be educated in America. There, she enrolled at art school. One day in 2001, during the second year of her master’s degree,
the curator of a nearby museum came to look at some of Essaydi’s photographs. But instead she found herself captivated by a huge painting that Essaydi had almost fnished: a deconstructed version of Gérôme’s The Slave Market. She asked what it was about, and Essaydi explained how it was her twist on a work of Western imagination. “But I thought it was real,” said the curator. Like many of Gérôme’s contemporaries, this woman assumed the original was documentary. “I was shocked,” recalls Essaydi. “If a person specializing in art, and with a PhD, can still think it was
It was when travellIng that I started really thInkIng of Independence – that I am an IndIvIdual. by somebody from my family.” As Essaydi’s reputation grew, however, their views softened. In any case, her father had been a painter. “When people wrote about my work, and the family started reading about it and found out what I was trying to do, there was some kind of understanding. Now, I actually have a lot of people who like my work in the Middle East and in Morocco.” These days, Essaydi has a studio in Marrakech and is surrounded by supportive relatives. So after more than a decade working with these ideas, and having won her family’s acceptance, does she feel that she can now move off in a new direction artistically? “I’m changing as the time changes and circumstances around me change – that applies to my work, too. Right now, I think that I really am ready to play. I have images in my head of what I’m trying to accomplish, but so far the results are not exactly as I want,” she says. “So I keep pushing.”
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Charlie Burton is an editor on British GQ magazine.
This page and previous pages: © The arTisT and The edwynn houk gallery, new york. porTraiT and insTallaTion shoT by Fakhriyya MaMMadova.
( Sketches
( fashionable during the 19th century, especially in the work of French artists. But Essaydi’s photographs do not simply imitate these historical works; rather she subtly subverts the Romantic exoticism and fantasies characteristic of this genre. Perhaps the woman’s feet are dirty, or the decorative background is made out of bullets – with details such as these, Essaydi debunks the idealization of the ‘Orient’ by European art and reveals the profound mismatch between art and reality. For most of her photographs, too, she covers her
real, I knew that I had to do something about it.” Having alighted on her style and calling, she knew it would cause a rift between her and her family. Depictions of women, particularly in public spaces, ran against her culture’s traditions. “And our religion, too, arguably,” says Essaydi. “I didn’t know, also, how my family would feel about my name and, therefore, their name being out there. Somebody from Europe wouldn’t understand how it is and they’re completely crazy about being in the media in the US, but it’s totally the opposite in Morocco.” Her hunch was right. Her relatives forbade her from working at the family house when she visited. “No one talked about my work for a very long time,” she says. “I wasn’t showing in Morocco, and I believe that it’s because of that, they thought what I was doing was wrong. The situation was quite hideous. I was even accused of doing pornography