Over the past 20 years, Ghada Amer's quest to forge an aesthetic language
for the oppression of women has established her as one of the most important
and widely exhibited contemporary artists. Born in Cairo in 1963, and moving
to France at age 11, from early on in life Amer was witness to the
cross-cultural subjugation of women, whether from increasing religious
conservatism in Egypt, or via the subtler machinations of Western commodity
culture. In Amer's hand-embroidered paintings, delicate abstract tracings of
sewn thread are counterposed with often quiet but sometimes confrontational
erotic imagery. Trawling all manner of materials from fashion magazines,
children's fairy tales, pornography, dictionaries, the Koran and medieval
Arabic manuscripts, Amer challenges their authority, highlighting their
exclusions and countering with a powerfully asserted female subject. This
handsome monograph is the first publication to document the full breadth of
her art, with numerous images of and detailed commentary on her paintings,
sculptures, drawings, prints, videos, performances and garden works. Art
historian Maura Reilly contributes a substantial scholarly text that
chronicles the trajectory of Amer's career, and art historian Laurie Farrell
focuses on the artist's collaborative works with Reza Farkondeh. Also
included is a conversation between the artist and scholar Martine Antle,
plus a complete chronology, exhibition list and bibliography, all of which
affirm this volume as the definitive resource on the artist. |