Portraits : Reflections on the Veil

August 31, 2007

In the context of ongoing debate around the shifting and heterogeneous cultural and political meanings of veiling, Belfast Exposed Photography presents an exhibition of work by two artists, Jane Brettle (UK) and Tulu Bayar (US), entitled Portraits: Reflections on the Veil. Both artists are interested in exploring visually and culturally, the complexities and nuances involved in understanding the social practices of veiling.

Jane Brettle has been working on the production of a series of photographs of veiled subjects for over two years. The work began as a solitary exploration but has developed into collaboration with a group of Muslim women around questions of representation, portraiture and veiling. In the catalogue essay, Reina Lewis remarks on how a portrait is seen to represent ‘knowable individuals and social status – yet the media is full of images of veiled women that stand as generic, un-individuated figures mobilised by conflicting interest groups in debates over everything from multiculturalism (whether seen as beneficial or divisive) to the threat of Islamic terrorism.’

Brettle’s work, Beyond Black, is made up of two series; the first features anonymous figures in black chador and niqab (face veil) arranged in compositions that echo iconic images from 19th and 20th century photographic history, produced by such luminaries as Julia Margaret Cameron, Lee Miller, Man Ray and Helen Chadwick. In the installation, these unidentified figures are presented alongside a series of large-format portraits of Muslim women wearing a range of garments representing a diversity of veiling practices. These women, who are members of the Pakeeza Group in Edinburgh, are actively engaged in working to undermine myths and prejudices around the veil.

In a video work entitled Confluence, Tulu Bayar presents a slow motion sequence of two women looking towards the viewer but who also appear to be gazing at themselves, as if in a mirror, whilst they arrange and remove scarves over their hair. Gradually the women replace their headscarves with wigs. Reina Lewis remarks on how Confluence links ‘Islamic veiling to other forms of head covering (such as the wigs worn by ultra-orthodox Jewish women) and invokes a recently developed strategy of Muslim wig-wearing by religious students in Turkey where the secular state bans veiling on university premises.’

Lewis concludes that ‘the works of Tulu Bayar and Jane Brettle reveal the overburdened significance of the veil, bravely intervening in art historical debates and contemporary cultural politics. Unpicking the possibility that any one type of veil or image of the veil could provide a unifying truth of either religious experience or racialised identity, their works celebrate women’s agency, inviting us to recognise the multiple and contradictory investments in veiling practices held by those who (sometimes or always) wear one and by those who observe. The dialogue set up between these two sets of work offers a chance for exactly the sort of considered reflections on the veil that are so urgently needed.’
Opening event: Saturday, 29 September 2007
Exhibition runs until 7 November
An exhibition catalogue will be available from 24 September

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