Title
Feminist Portrayal of a Woman Taking Her Life, by Klaudja Sulaj (Albania)
Creator
Contributor
Description
This artwork is double exposure photography and graphics. Ontological and silencing. The artwork represents the character, Ruba, in Mitli Mitlak (Like You, Like Me) who is oppressed, and stuck being abused, because she has nowhere to go, and because there is a war and poverty all around. It is fueled with the anger of being disgraced and about a person who is not being heard. By committing suicide with the man’s hand on the knife, Ruba, as portrayed by Sulaj, decides her legacy, when beforehand, she had no choice and no say.
In Mitli Mitlak (Like You, Like Me), Act 1, Scene 2, Ruba, before taking his hand that’s holding the knife, and stabbing herself, says:
Ruba: My spirit
mummied inside
Will leave my body to fly.
like a bird.
The vibration
is calling me to get to
a higher frequency,
I can feel the parabolic waves.
I see the ethereal curtains,
from where behind, the truth resides…
(The audience then discovers that this suicide was just a theatre rehearsal, not a real suicide).
The artwork serves as a protective eye or healing shield in the space where it is hung. As many of Sulaj’s works, it seems to be created as part of a daily battle to counter the anti forces...the dark side of the self.
(The above text was taken from an essay in the Mitli Mitlak (Like You, Like Me) exhibition catalogue, which provides an overview of contemporary Mediterranean and Arab world Art and current regional and global trends of thought. The text also illustrates the interrelations between the painting and Biba Sheikh’s literary text on which the artwork is based.)
In Mitli Mitlak (Like You, Like Me), Act 1, Scene 2, Ruba, before taking his hand that’s holding the knife, and stabbing herself, says:
Ruba: My spirit
mummied inside
Will leave my body to fly.
like a bird.
The vibration
is calling me to get to
a higher frequency,
I can feel the parabolic waves.
I see the ethereal curtains,
from where behind, the truth resides…
(The audience then discovers that this suicide was just a theatre rehearsal, not a real suicide).
The artwork serves as a protective eye or healing shield in the space where it is hung. As many of Sulaj’s works, it seems to be created as part of a daily battle to counter the anti forces...the dark side of the self.
(The above text was taken from an essay in the Mitli Mitlak (Like You, Like Me) exhibition catalogue, which provides an overview of contemporary Mediterranean and Arab world Art and current regional and global trends of thought. The text also illustrates the interrelations between the painting and Biba Sheikh’s literary text on which the artwork is based.)
Date
Coverage
Format
jpeg., 30 x 45 in.
Language
English
Rights
Original Format
Digital print and Photography
Comments