Me and my Hijab

Me and My Hijab

As we had to choose a theme that is personal and links to Sacred narratives, I am a Muslim Female and for me, my Hijab is the first aspect one sees when one meets me. I would not like to be treated as being different because of what I wear. So, this art series allows me to visually debate why Muslim women with Hijab should not be treated differently. The reason why my theme is ‘Me and My Hijab’ and not ‘Our Hijab’ is that the wearing of the Hijab is obligatory for every Muslim adult female when in public. But, how we all wear it is practised on the deepness of an individual’s faith. Hence, this is something personal that can be viewed from my eyes alone but can be identified by many Muslim women out there too.

My artworks are all about how Muslim woman wearing hijab is seen. I first went onto the history of different cultures wearing head coverings and compiled it together by means of an outline to show the beginning of my visual debate. I placed the woman in Hijab differently, just like the way we are seen to the world. Thereafter, I moved on to make a comparison with myself wearing different head coverings completed in a pencil sketch but the one of myself in Hijab is completed using beads. The reason for doing it differently is because yet again I am the same person but only when wearing my Hijab, then only am I seen as different. Now, expanding the beadwork, we focus on just the Hijab which is completed again using beadwork. This is of myself only because my hijab brings me closer to Allah.

To conclude the debate, I took a political debate and made it personal. I took ownership of the debate and hence I used all the people in my life wearing hijab as part of the final artwork. Pearls rank among the most popular gems in the world. With a serene beauty, they make perfect complements to flashier gems. Yet, they also possess an elegance that can shine along. The pearl is the emblem of modesty and purity. In this analogy, the pearl signifies every female and the shell is the protective covering. Like a pearl that has intrinsic value, a female needs protection against being exposed visually. From the very beginning, my ideas built upon the quote by Muhammed Ali, “Your body is sacred. You’re far more precious than diamonds and pearls and you should be covered too.”

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