黑料不打烊

Women at Work: Intersection of Fine Art and Craft is an exploration of the innovative and intricate ways in which contemporary women artists from across the Arab world channel the creative force born at the intersection of fine art and craft. Working across media such as textiles, ceramics, metal, painting, photography, and drawing, these artists engage with materials and technical skills in ways that defy and question the need for boundaries between fine art and craft. 

Societies across the world have traditionally assigned unpaid domestic, caregiving, and textile-related labor to women, reinforcing the view that these roles belong solely in the female domain. 鈥榃omen鈥檚 work鈥� included practices such as weaving, tapestry-making, embroidery, pottery, and other forms of craft that often resulted in objects that were primarily functional and not solely aesthetically pleasing. In many of the pieces featured in this exhibition, the artists and artisans are reimagining and reappropriating these practices and turning them into spaces for intellectual, aesthetic, and innovative engagement.

The laborious processes across 鈥榳omen鈥檚 work鈥� were (and continue to be) considered 鈥榙omestic feminine pursuits鈥� and therefore were looked down upon throughout patriarchal societies. At the same time, because these mediums have been historically tied to the women鈥檚 realm throughout history, they are often seen as especially useful for engaging with feminist issues. Their deep-rooted associations with the feminine endow them with the unique ability to challenge stereotypes, convey varied experiences of womanhood, and subvert traditionally male-dominated spaces. Some of the artists in this exhibition incorporated craft practices, material, and techniques in tandem with the tools and mediums common to visual fine art (painting, drawing, photography, sculpture鈥�) in order to create new and innovative works reflecting the narratives and issues of their own time. This allowed them to provide a new visual perspective as they subverted patriarchal norms and expectations as well as accessed different modes of expression.