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Lalla Essaydi and Collage

Image credit
Lalla Essaydi (b. 1956), Bullets Revisited #20, 2013, chromogenic print mounted to aluminum with a UV protective laminate, 48 x 60 in., © LALLA ESSAYDI. Courtesy of the artist and Edwynn Houk Gallery, New York.

Discuss and analyze representations of women in media and art.

Grades
6-12
Class
Standards
Objectives

After completing this activity, students will better be able to:

  1. Discuss and analyze representations of women in media and art
  2. Understand the concept of othering and discuss how othering happens in contemporary society
  3. Create a collage using images and text

About

BACKGROUND

Lalla Essaydi, is a Moroccan contemporary artist, primarily known for her carefully constructed photographs of women. Born in 1956, the artist spent her formative years in Marrakesh and eventually moved to the United States, where she studied painting and photography at the School of Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University. Currently, the New-York based artist divides her time between Morocco and the United States.

Essaydi’s draws from her own cross-cultural experience to investigate the complex roles of Arab women in contemporary and past societies. Many of the artist’s staged photographs depict Arab women adorned with calligraphic Arabic script the artist applies in henna and set in spaces that have been historically reserved for women. This calligraphy is intentionally illegible, making it impossible to decipher. Integral to artist’s work is the iconography of Orientalist art. By subverting popular imagery found in Orientalist paintings, Essaydi draws attention to the fantasies and stereotypes embedded in depictions of North African, Middle Eastern, and Asian women. Some examples of Orientalist motifs Essaydi appropriates and deconstructs are the veil, harem, and odalisque.

Les Femmes Du Maroc: La Grande Odalisque
Lalla Essaydi (born 1956)
2008
photographic print, edition of 10
43 1/2 x 54 1/2 inches (110.5 x 138.4 cm)
2011.1
La Grande Odalisque
Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres
1814
Oil on canvas
36″ x 63″
Musée du Louvre, Paris

Activity 1

Using images from magazines, students will create a collage inspired by Essaydi’s work that challenges media representations of men and/or women.

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Before looking at art, have the students define what a “stereotype” is and have them discuss some of the issues with stereotypes.
  2. Briefly discuss the history of Orientalist painting before showing the student Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres’s La Grande Odalisqu (You can also show the students Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Bashi-Bazouk, Jean-Léon Gérôme’s Snake Charmer, Eugène Delacroix’s Women of Algiers in their Apartment (1834).
  3. Ask the students what these images tell us about places and people they depict and if they think the painting is depicting these places accurately. Use the discussion questions to support conversation.
  4. Show the students Lalla Essaydi’s work. Have them compare Essaydi’s work to Ingres’ and discuss why they think she choose to change the work.
  5. After comparing Essaydi and Ingres artworks, Students will use images from magazines to create a collage that changes a stereotype they often hear or see in popular culture.
  6. When they are finished, have students show their collages and discuss how their image challenges or deconstructs a stereotype.
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Activity Examples

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