This work asks the question of who we see when we look at a veiled person. For this my Yemeni assistant asked 30 men and women in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, to look closely at a fully veiled person (myself) to formulate their assessments of my appearance, character and living conditions.
The installation consists of a cube with four pieces of fabric stapled to each side. These represent the abaja, a black, coat-like garment that most women in Yemen wear in public. The panels show 16 selected quotations embroidered in golden thread into the fabric panels in German and Arabic. The cube is surrounded by the photo portraits of all participants.
Contribution:
Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Muqualeh, Abdulkader Sabri, Abdullah Al-Mura’ai, Abdulnasser Al-Badani, Ali Al-Hutaibi, Ali Mohammed Ali Saleh, Ali Mohammed Al- Rada’ai, Ali Mohammed Auadh, Ameen Abdullah Mohammed Ali Saefan, Amin Dirham Mohammed Al-Areeki, Anwer Al-Germani, Dr. Bilkis Abo-Esba’a, Faisa Ahmed Abdullmalik Al-Mutawakel, Dr. Entilak Al-Mutawakel, Iman Al-Aruma, Dr. Husnia Al-Khadri, Kahuthar Annabhani, Kefah Abdulrahman Taha, Khahtan Yahia Khaid, Lutf Hussain Al-Mahdi, Manal Abu Al-Ridschal, Mohammed Abdulsalam Al-Mansour, Mohammed Al-Hutaibi, Mua’ath Al-Fetahi, Raidan Mohammed Abdullmalik Al-Mutawakel, Rawda Ahmed Al-Amri, Sameer Mohammed Ali Ahmed, Schahd Hassan Al-Iriani, Soad Abdulaziz Mohammed Khadri Al- Saqaaf, Yahya Mohammed and Zeinah Dhia’a Addien (respondents); Samah A. Al-Amri, Arwa Al-Gawmari, Veronika Schlecht (assistance, interview and translation), Basmah Al-Iriani, Dr. Hamied Al-Iriani, Ahmed Al-Kibsi, Abdulkader Sabri and Veronika Schlecht (mediation), Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (support).