Ghada AmerBody Culture, 2021
In Ghada Amer's text embroidered paintings, the artist deploys citations and quotes about female identity and empowerment. In these paintings, carefully embroidered canvases highlight problematic constructs of female identity to draw attention to the erosure of women's liberation in Western society. The artist states:
“In Western societies, there is an assumption, especially among the younger generations, that the battle of the sexes has been won, that women have been liberated, and that their rights are secure. And yet, we are witnessing today a sharp regression of women’s rights and a stark rise of violence against women. However, in countries where one assumes women’s rights to be limited or absent, such as in Egypt, Iran, Afghanistan, or Mexico, women of the younger generation know they have a lot to gain from fighting for those very same rights that are eroding in the West."
In 'Body Culture' from 2021 - Amer cites a quote by Naomi Wolf from her book The Beauty Myth: How Images of Beauty Are Used Against Women, it reads “A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty but an obsession about female obedience.”
