Harem #38 2013

Lalla Essaydi’s photograph, *Harem #38*, invites a critical look at the orientalist fantasy of the harem. Essaydi, born in Morocco and educated in the West, uses her cross-cultural experience to challenge Western stereotypes of Arab women. Here, the female figure is adorned with henna, a traditional art form often used to mark important life events. Look closely – the henna also features Arabic calligraphy, but it is illegible, disrupting its function. This speaks to the artist's feelings of being caught between cultures, belonging fully to neither. The woman is posed in a rich setting of patterned fabrics, reminiscent of 19th-century Orientalist paintings. Essaydi reclaims this space, offering a counter-narrative that reflects the complexities of identity, tradition, and representation, whilst reflecting on her own experiences of living and working between different cultural contexts. By subverting the male gaze, Essaydi gives voice to the experiences of women in the Arab world. Her work becomes a powerful statement about cultural identity, female agency, and the challenges of dismantling orientalist tropes.