Fatima Mawas
– Artist’s Website –
Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery, UWA
REVIEW LAETITIA WILSON
Young contemporary Muslim artists growing up with the influence of Islam in Australia have a rich vocabulary from which to draw inspiration.
Art from these artists is increasingly a part of contemporary exhibitions but it’s rare to see a show that draws together a cohort of Generation-Y Muslim artists.
The Here&Now16/GenYM exhibition, curated by Hamida Novakovich, ticks this box.
It brings together nine artists who identify as Muslim, where Muslim is not reduced to a blanket label but open to a diversity of identifications.
As a sparse yet carefully arranged exhibition it contains 45 intriguing works. The curatorial vision has focused on four aspects: “childhood memories and questions of spirituality, occupied land, heritage and belonging, and outsiders”.
On entering the gallery the lulling Arabic sounds of an oud or flute are heard. On close inspection they are part of two dance video works called Fiddler on the Roof 1 (2011) and 2 (2014) created by Fatima Mawas and performed by Alfira O’Sullivan.
Both picture a musician and dancer on a roof. Part one, shot in Bethlehem, sees the dancer grasp dirt as a reference to families in Palestine being given a handful of dirt to signify the death of their loved ones who were taken away.
It is also about the land being the key site and subject of conflict. Part two, shot in Melbourne with O’Sullivan seven months pregnant, is about birth, death and occupation as three definitive constants for Palestinians living under the occupation.
The poignant and layered nature of these works and their reflection on occupation and belonging acts as a strong audio- visual and socio-political lens through which to consider other works in the exhibition.