Spring Break
The walls of the Fine Arts Gallery unveiled
Anna Nguyen
Issue date: 9/17/08 Section: Life & Style
|
The veil has always been momentous, said exhibit curator Jennifer Heath, from Boulder, Colo. "[It is] a symbol of mystery, of nature, of the divine, of many things."
As much as the veil is a fabric or a garment, it is also a concept, according to a press release about the exhibit. The title of the exhibit comes from the hidden and veiled aspects everyone has "within our families, in our cultures and spiritual practices," Heath said.
The veil, however, has become significant among non-Muslims, particularly Westerners, "as a symbol of Islam, of political dissension, of oppression. It's very big stuff and highly misinterpreted," she said.
"[It] means much more than the political stereotypes we ascribe to it today," she said. "It is ancient and deeply meaningful."
The exhibit is a visual companion to Heath's edited volume, "The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics," which was published this summer. The volume explores and examines the cultures, politics and histories of veiling. Twenty-one writers and scholars, who all represent a wide range of societies, religions, ages and races, contribute to the volume. Additionally, author and UA English professor Mohja Kahf contributed to the first chapter, Heath said.
Similar to the exhibit, the essays are arranged in three parts: the veil as an expression of the sacred; the veil in relation to the emotional and the sensual; and the veil in its sociopolitical aspects, Heath said.
"Today, veiling is a globally polarizing issue, a locus for the struggle between Islam and the West and between contemporary and traditional interpretations of Islam," she said. "But veiling was a practice long before Islam and still extends far beyond the Middle East.
"The volume brings together a multiplicity of thought and experience, much of it personal, to make readily accessible a difficult and controversial subject," she said.
Be the first to comment on this story