Aneesah Girie

Me and You

My artistic practice is centred around the idea of materiality, which is investigated through its physical forms as well as through metaphorical conceptions. The headscarf or the ‘Hijab’ is the primary material component within my art practice. These scarfs were given to me, passed down through familial linages and collected over the years. I am most interested in their material quality, in how they are able to both convey and inscribe meaning. As well as how they start to become a means of association and interpretation in how Muslim woman are perceived. 

The frame or ‘framing’ that is utilized within this work becomes an important metaphor and entry point into understanding how the frame, in both its physical and social construction, becomes a standardization, regulation and container for how the veiled Muslim woman is viewed. And therefore I ask, 

How do we begin to un-cover, to re-cover 

To frame and re-frame that which both holds and withholds 

To slip, spill and pull 

Away from or, perhaps towards 

The re-flections of the possibilities beyond convention, standardization and regularity.