Gendered & Cultural Boundaries of Art: Bullets Revisited #3

https://nmwa.org/art/collection/bullets-revisited-3/

Lalla Essaydi’s Bullets Revisited #3 (2012), a large-scale photographic triptych (love being able to expand my vocab) held in the National Museum of Women in the Arts collection, presents a meticulously staged composition that merges the intentful and impactful combination of photography, installation, and textile like decoration. The work is part of Essaydi’s broader “Bullets Revisited” series, in which she reinterprets Orientalist visual traditions through the lens of contemporary North African/Moroccan identity and gendered roles. The piece consists of three chromogenic prints mounted on aluminum, forming a unified image of a woman reclining, her gaze looking towards the audiences with an aura I must describe as confident. She does not shy away from the space she takes. And the space she takes is intentful with the densely covered henna calligraphy and metallic bullet casings. Her work engages us to ponder about the visibility and control of women.

At first look, the most striking aspect is the use of space and surface density. Very little free space is given, forcing the viewer’s eye to inspect the whole image rather than just one point. She is reclining and is the main horizontal view but her body is presented interruptedly. The triptych format breaks the image into three adjacent panels; it’s obvious the image continues but the division subtly disrupts the visual continuity of it, giving it a sense of controlled fragmentation. As noted, this structure intentionally undermines the voyeuristic consumption of a single gaze of the body of the subject (National Museum of Women in Arts).

The way the figure lays matches the 19th-century Orientalist painting traditions, such as The Siesta 1876 by John Frederick Lewis or The Siesta 1878 by Frederick Arthur Bridgman (daily dose of art, 2022). However, Essaydi combates these references by removing the erotic view of a sleeping woman. Her body is fully clothed and entirely covered in henna calligraphy, giving it a textual surface rather than one’s eyes consuming the curves of a woman’s body. The calligraphy itself is difficult to read as if the narrative of the female body is not meant to be accessed and understood by all.

Another notable aspect is the use of color. The palette is dominated by warm golds, earth tones, and metallic silver from the bullet casing. This use of color causes a slight shimmer movement for the still artwork. The use of colors connected to identity of North African woman fashion through expression of jewelry. The beauty of the metallic surface is purposely positioned to create a patterned image similar to textile patterns, however it is unsettling for its connection to violence. As if the artwork around us suffers from the residue of conflict.

The spatial construction of the image creates depth. Shadows are minimal, patterns are repetitive, and the black framework around each image creates division. The body becomes treated as a pattern rather than separate from the artwork. The lack of need of preventing flattening effects resists Western conventions and works more closely with Islamic artistic traditions. Perhaps the separation of the artwork into three figures allows for the artist to make sure a whole image of a human is not included into her pattern, another tradition of Islamic art.

The work engages with the histories of Orientalism and the representation of North African and Arab women in Western visual culture. Orientalism is the “simplistic, stereotyped, and demeaning conceptions of Arab and Asian cultures” (Britannica). An overgeneralization of the beauty of cultures, indigenous tribes, and historical impacts on countries from a diverse set. The objectification of her, the portrayal of her, the oversexualization of her, everything but just viewing her as a whole person. Essaydi references traditions in her work, such as using henna which is dominantly female practice but writing calligraphy with it, a male practice, to disrupt these gendered norms. She repositions the female subject with an agency of control. We are not viewing a woman slumbering in her own private space, the cloth clutched to her body as if nude, but a woman allowing you to view and being aware of this gaze. The use of bullet casings as a view of violence over the woman’s body. Essaydi created this series as a response to political strife and the restrictions placed on women. Her work fights against containment, aggression, control, sexism, and orientalism; the strife faced on a body that is a minority in both gender and race.

In conclusion, Bullets Revisited #3 showcases Lalla Essaydi’s mastery of composition as a means of political and cultural critique. With the use of controlled fragmentation, patterning, and symbolism, the work challenges conventional views of the woman body and her experiences.Within its stillness, we can view the tension between beauty and violence, visibility and refusal, culture and contemporary, making it a powerful work of visual culture for today.