Samer Barkaoui: Mahrem - Footnotes on Veiling

Samer Barkaoui
2004
Video 40 sec, loop

1973 Syria.
Lives in Damascus, Syria.

The most comical and at the same time most memorable work is, however, Samer Barkaoui’s modestly understated short little film. Three completely veiled teen-agers take turns photographing each other in pairs. We can only see two cone-shaped figures in the camera’s display window and yet we know that we are dealing with young girls from their giggling laughter and their delicate fluttering about. We can see them, even though they are hidden. All this comedy seeks to provoke: in Istanbul, where the Mahrem exhibition was previously shown, a proudly religious woman painter was inspired by it enough to found the initiative for a "Head-scarf Biennial." universes-in-universe.org