Celebrating Women Artists in Jordan: Reframing Gender
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UNIVERSITÀ DEGLI STUDI DI PALERMO DIPARTIMENTO CULTURE E SOCIETÀ DOTTORATO DI RICERCA IN Studi Culturali Europei (Dottorato internazionale) Ciclo XXIX (2014-2016) Settore Scientifico Disciplinare L-OR/12 Lingua e Letteratura Araba PhD candidate: Marta Bellingreri CELEBRATING WOMEN ARTISTS IN JORDAN: REFRAMING GENDER ROLES AS RESISTANCE Tutor: Professor Patrizia Spallino (University of Palermo, Italy) Co-tutor: Professor Giulia De Spuches (University of Palermo, Italy) Supervisor abroad: Professor Rula Quawas (University of Jordan, Jordan) Academic Hospitality at Center for Gender Studies (SOAS, University of London, UK) PhD coordinator: Professor Michele Cometa 1 Thesis Abstract This thesis focuses on women artists in the capital of Jordan, Amman, and particularly on their cultural practices as an expression of a creative agency. These women create independent spaces, cultural initiatives, public performances and original artworks that allow the reframing of gender roles in neoliberal patriarchal societies today. Beyond labeling the emergence of a new female activism, or femtivism, as feminist or revolutionary, I suggest reading it as the reconfiguration of a new wave of feminisms in Jordan, which engages with the visual arts, the contemporary cultural scene of Amman, the geography of the city and the political commitment, often in informal domains rather than in institutionalized contexts. The analysis of artistic itineraries, performed spaces, collective practices, urban cartographies, personal stories, individual or common artworks form this feminist ethnographical research in which the researcher has engaged, drawing on a postcolonial, postexotic, transnational, intersectional approach. Key words: women, artists, feminisms, Amman, Jordan, Middle East, ethnography, creative agency, postcolonial, intersectional 2 Table of Contents Thesis Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………page 2 Table of Contents ………………………………………………………………………….page 3 List of Participants of the Research/Interviews …………………………………………page 5 List of Figures ……………………………………………………………………………. page 7 Note on Transliteration ………………………………………………………………….. page 9 Acknowledgements ………………………………………………………………….........page 10 Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………... page 11 Chapter 1 The Journey of my Research ………………………………………………………........ page 18 1.1 Dwell on Why Jordan ………………………………………………………................ page 18 1.2 Celebrating Women and Arts in Jordan: Feminism as a starting point ……................. page 28 1.3 Overcoming Neo-Orientalists‟ Perceptions: the Journey of my Research ……............ page 35 1.4 Amman, Collaborative Practices in Engaged Research: an Interactive Dwelling .........page 43 Chapter 2 Cultural Resistance and Women’s Creative Agency in Jordan …….............................. page 53 2.1 Cultural Resistances: Processes in Feminist Interventions ……..................................... page 57 2.2 Resistance to what? Neoliberalism versus Cosmopolitan Outlook.................................. page 66 2.3 Women‟s Creative Agency: Reframing Gender Roles, Destabilizing Norms ………...page 75 Chapter 3 “Something” happened in Jordan. Women’s Movement(s) and Political History: before/beyond 2011 ..................................................................................................................... page 83 3.1 Jordan: History of a Nation-State built country…………...……......................................page 86 3.2 Nothing happened because “Something” happened: Jordan in 2011, Before and Beyond……………………………………………………………………………...............page 94 3.3 In the Name of Continuity: Women‟s Movement(s) in Jordan ………………………page 104 3 Chapter 4 Cartography of Creations and Creative Spaces in Amman ……...................................page 117 page 118...………………………….…………………… ساميت زارو Introduction- Samia Zaru 4.1 4.1.1 The official history of Art- the most ancient and the most recent ………………….page 121 دارة الفىون و /Women and indipendent art spaces. Darat al-Fonon and Makan Art Space 4.1.2 page 123...................................................................................................................................... مكان page 129......……………………… حيس /Resistance as the generating creative spaces. Hayyez 4.2 4.2.1 Reflections on Performed Spaces as a Site of Resistance .........................................page 133 page 142..ديىا حدديه و صبا عىاب Resistance of the “Archetists.” Dina Haddadin and Saba Innab 4.3 4.3.1 The Transits in Dina Haddadin .................................................................................page 147 4.3.2 Saba Innab. How to Build without a Land ................................................................page 153 جلساث Resistance as cultural initiatives. The engagement in the city of the Spring Sessions 4 .4 page 159..………………………………………………………………………………………الربيع 4.4.1 Spring Sessions: nourishing young artists and developing arts in the city ...............page 161 Chapter 5 Midwifing the Change: Female Bodies Resistance ........................................................page 168 5.1 Story-telling: female narratives in body politics…...…………………………………page 168 page 175...……………………………… سلي شلبيت الحكوتيت Sally Shallabiye, el- hakawatiyye 5.1.1 page 181 …………………………………… سماح حجاوي Visual Performance: Sameh Hijjawi 5.2 5.3 Gender violence and gender injustice on canvas……………………………………...page 190 page 194..………………………… رود عبدالىور Canvassing Women in red: Rand Abdelnour 1 .5.3 Conclusion Can Women‟s Creative Artists be considered a New Wave of Feminism in Jordan? …...page 200 Bibliography .....................................................................................................................page 204 4 List of Participants of the Research/Interviews in Amman, Jordan (2015-2016) Deema Dabis, 36 years old, documentary filmmaker, yoga instructor Dima Maurice, 29 years old, architect, graphic designer, co-founder of “Hayyez” Sally Shallabi, 38 years old, storyteller Noura al Khasawneh, 34 years old, artist curator, co-founder of “Spring Sessions” Lina Khalifeh, 32 years old, taekwondo instructor, founder of “She Fighter” Reham Sharbaji, 31 years old, art teacher, visual artist Rawan Zeine, 35 years old, curator, founder of “Ta3leeh” Maryam Khawsaneh, 27 years old, historian, researcher in filmmaking Sahar Khalife, 42 years old, singer Rula Khoury, 34 years old, visual artist Shermine Sawalha, 33 years old, cultural manager, founder of “Malahi” Dina Haddadine, 33 years old, architect, painter, visual artist Natasha Dahdaleh, 31 years old, painter Lubna Juqqa, 31 years old, arts curator, former curator at “al-Balad Theatre” Mais Darwazeh, 41 years old, independent director and filmmaker Melika Qutishat, 29 years old, graphic designer, founder of “Meme” Rand Abdul Nur, 27 years old, painter, art director in film production Toleen Touq, 37 years old, art curator, cultural manager, co-founder of “Spring Sessions” Samah Hijjawi, 40 years old, visual artist, performer, curator, researcher Saba Innab, 36 years old, architect, painter, visual artist Linda Khouri, 36 years old, photographer, founder of “Dar al-Tasweer” and “Fann w chai” Shreen Zmout, 30 years old, actress and theatre assistant director 5 Asma Khader, 55 years old, lawyer, human right activist Samia Zaru, 78 years old, painter, visual artist, teacher 6 List of Figures Fig. 1 On the 17th of April 2016 the Jordanian caricaturist Abu Mahjoob posted on social networks his last caricature about the clause that remained in Article 308 for incidents involving minors. Fig. 2 Amman in a picture taken in 1922 when it was a village with 20,000 inhabitants. The picture was restored for the exhibition Fertile Crescent in Amman in 2016. Fig. 3 The painter, teacher and visual artist Samia Zaru in her workshop in Amman, 21st April 2016. Fig. 4 Statues of Ain Ghazal in the Jordan Museum in Amman‟s citadel. They are most likely the earliest sculpted figures to be found anywhere in the world. They date back to 7000 BC and represent human forms in unbaked clay. Fig. 5 The entrance at Makan Art Space in Jabal al-Webde, Amman. It was open for over 12 years. Fig. 6 Hayyez‟s space in Jabal al-Webde, Amman. Fig. 7 Dina Haddadin‟s exhibition “Transit Witness” (courtesy of the author). Fig. 8 Photo from Dina Haddadin‟s Transit Terminals‟ action in al-Mahatta, Amman (courtesy of the author). Fig. 9 “How to build without a Land”: Saba Innab‟s exhibition in Darat al-Fonon, Amman (courtesy of the author). Fig. 10 One of Saba Innab‟s paintings from the “How to build without a Land” exhibition in Darat al-Fonoon, Amman (courtesy of the author). Fig. 11 Final exhibition of Spring Sessions 2016 edition: “100 days of Culture in the City”, Culture Street, Amman. Fig. 12 and 13 Razan Mbaideen‟s photos and poster for the “fake” election campaign at Spring Sessions 2016‟s final exhibition, Culture Street, Amman. Fig. 14 Sally Shallabiyye‟s storytelling in Jadal for Culture, 5th December 2015, Amman. Fig. 15 Samah Hijawi‟s performance “Where are the Arabs?” in downtown Amman, May 2009, and a photo of the video in a café (courtesy of the author). Fig. 16 Samah Hijawi‟s performance “Where are the Arabs?” in Mango Market, in downtown Amman, May 2009, and a photo of the video in a café (courtesy of the author). 7 Fig. 17 Rand Abdelnoor‟s painting, “Woman II: Adorned with Jasmine,” at her first solo exhibition. Women‟s dresses recall the patterns of the tent for parliamentarian elections and funerals. Fig. 18 Rand Abdelnoor‟s painting,“Woman II: Adorned with Jasmine,” at her first solo exhibition.