Ghada AmerWAKE UP, 2023
Working for the first time with the traditionally male-dominated Egyptian textile craft of Khayamiya, in this body of work Ghada Amer deploys Eastern and Western voices within a series of large-scale abstract appliqué textile works. Each work translates statements and citations by Female leaders into bold geometric formations that reference the ubiquitous language of the QR code.
This new body of work expands on Amer’s ongoing series of text paintings which highlight women's agency by restating statements on or by women about identity and empowerment. Here a quote by Nawal al Saadawi reads in Arabic: 'Refuse, Revolt, Wake up, Refuse. Face the situation without being broken, tear out the Burqa, do not let them choose for you, Darkness will be over for sure,so start the shortcut, do not give up, your silence is weakness and suicidal.'
