ARTIST'S STATEMENT
BURQA: a body encasing polyester garment worn by the women of Afghanistan as decreed by the fundamentalist Taliban regime.
In this cross-cultural installation my aim is to challenge the viewer to go beyond the conditioned Western response to the haunting image of the Afghan burqa and to make space of a dialog and exchange regarding woman’s cultural experiences.
The burqa is most often viewed as a symbol of woman’s subordination and subjugation under the Taliban regime. Indeed it is a complex symbol, one viewed by many as a hideous distortion of Islamic strictures, by others from a more traditional perspective; the veil provides modesty, protection, and privacy.
When wearing one of the three burqas on display, the viewer can experience these conflicting points of view and begin to understand the burqa as part of an embodiment and belief of another culture. In this presentation I hope to address the urgency we often feel in the West to understand this one aspect of the Muslim culture and to produce a response which stresses humanity over and above differences of culture and religion.
BRIEF RESUME
Teaching Experience:
- University of New England, Biddeford, Maine
Exhibitions:
- Casa Diana Gallery , The Burqa Project, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, 2009
- New Works from the Permanent Collection, UNE Gallery, Portland , Maine, 2008
- New Work by Peregrine Press, Saco Museum , Saco , Maine, 2007
- Prints from Peregrine Press, Saco Museum , Saco , Maine, 2006
- Maine Print Project, Fine Art Gallery , University of Maine , Presque Isle , Maine, 2006
- Art of the Print, George Marshall Store Gallery, York Harbor , Maine, 2005
Awards
- Artist in Residency, Na BolomMuseum, San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico
- First in Show, Key Biscayne, Miame, Florida
Education
- Beaver College, Jenkintown Pennsylvania; studio art
- Boston University, Boston Massachusetts; studio art
- Maine College of Art, Portland, Maine:
Contempory Printmaking Processes with Judy Allen
Art of the Monotype with Alice Spencer
Collections
- Public collections include: University of New England,
Portland Museum of Art,
New York Public Library, Bowdoin College, Farnsworth Museum, and Colby College - Private collections include: Bob Hope,
President George W. Bush,
Gerneral William
Westmoreland, and Tom's of Maine corporate Offices