Think and share:
· What will be the possible images that you will use to assemble a research inquiry for the final project?
I will start by looking at images from the Arabic fashion magazine Sayidaty. The magazine is made by women from Saudi Arabia, but the magazine itself is based in London. It has a combination of a lot of things-clothes, western brand ads, western celebrities, middle eastern celebrities, news, art, music, recipes, and more. I also want to look at images of both the places I frequented in Colorado, and some of the places I remember most from my trips to Syria.
· Why do you consider these images?
We have been subscribed to these magazines for as long as I can remember, and I would flip through them as a child, looking at all the pictures. Because it is written in Arabic, I couldn’t read most of it, and so I would just look at the photographs. I am interested in the way that two different types of visual images are placed within the same context: there are white models in form fitting clothes and hijabi ladies in Jalabiya.
· How will you compose these images to represent the inquiry?
I want to think about how identity is formed, by examining my own experiences as a Muslim Syrian American. I want to have a background of architecture and environments that I spent a lot of time in in Colorado, and also the places that made the biggest impression on me during my visit. On top, I want to combine pictures of hijab and other things that represent both sides of my identity, the western-American and the Syrian-Muslim. I want to see if I can combine them in a satirical way, that merges the two together, because they both feel like they are not separate, but connected in my experiences.