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May 6th, & 7th, 2020 in Manama, Bahrain.
Image 1: “alter ego” made on May 6th, 2020.
Image 2: “alter ego II” made on May 7th, 2020 in Manama, Bahrain.
Photographs by featured artist Mashael Alsaie
A note from the artist: “Mashael Alsaie is a photographer and video artist based between Bahrain and New York. Her work disassembles the compounded ideologies that have shaped her understanding of womanhood through the roots of her Arab heritage. In doing so, she confronts not only the nuanced narratives of women in the Middle East but also the history of regional representation and visual culture. Her work layers cultural ideologies such as the multi-consciousness of haram and halal culture, traditional standards of femininity, mythological storytelling, and the friction of the oil economy that has not only developed the contemporary Arabian Gulf’s landscape but its psyche as well. Through the process of representation and storytelling, she aims to blend the worlds of reality and fantasy, personal and generational, in order to conjure a dialectic representation of the region.
Alsaie holds a BA in Urban Studies from UC Berkeley and is currently pursuing an MA in Photography, Video, and Media Arts from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University. Recently, Alsaie’s work has featured in group exhibitions at PS122, New York (2019); Bahrain Fine Arts Festival (2020), Art BAB, Bahrain (2019). She has recently completed a residency at Residency Unlimited in Brooklyn, New York. She is currently developing a photo series connecting local folklore with the imagery of women in the region.”