Imagine Me: An exhibit depicting the perceptions of the veiled woman [Archives:2007/1028/Culture]
February 26 2007
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“I came to Yemen two years ago. What astonished me most is the ability of people to recognize a veiled woman. There are men who can recognize their sisters and their wives so easily, indicating that they have a greater level of sensitivity than other people,” Angelika Boeck, a German conceptual artist, said.
As a conceptual artist, Boeck, who is interested in human perception, held an exhibition to consider perceptions of other cultures. Imagine Me is an exhibition held in the German House and is the fourth installment in a continuing series of works that question the power of imagination.
“It is too hard to know others' perceptions when you belong to another culture. Perceptions depend on the culture in which you grow up. Therefore, I wore the veil as they did, asking the Yemenis present to illustrate the person who they thought was behind the veil,” she added.
Boeck is concerned with structures of dialogue and experimental layouts facing the human perception. She has completed works which shed light on how perception is culturally conditioned. She has worked in the Ivory Coast, in the Antarctic area, as well as in Central Australia.
Boeck presented herself at first completely covered, and without communicating, to 31 Yemeni men and woman in Sana'a.
The pattern of dialogue that all of these works have in common is the artist's self-image, the prism in which the different cultural identities shatter and mirror themselves.
The participants were asked by a native speaker to imagine the woman (Boeck), who was unknown to them and obscured behind her veil. Quotes from 16 of the interviews presented on the black fabric of the box.
“When Yemenis imagine how I look while I am covered, many of them correctly imagine some of my features. Maybe they are aspects that are common to all Yemenis,” Boeck said.
At the beginning Boeck found it difficult to take the women's pictures, especially those who weren't veiled, “The veiled women did however allow me to take their photos since no one knew them.” As for the Yemeni people, they are so open as well as helpful. I have no problem interacting with people or taking quotes from them.”
The idea of the exhibit is that a black box stands for a veiled woman and no one has access to or knows what is inside. The photos on the wall around the box (the veiled woman) stand for the surrounding people's points of view regarding her. The golden prints on the black fabric of the box represent the detailed decoration of the women's abaya (the black uniform that most Yemeni women wear to cover their bodies), she said.
Boeck seeks to portray reality according to her vision. She tried to put all of the elements that people said about the veiled women during a five week period in to her exhibit. However, she still feels that the box is ambiguous and unexplored. “Even for me it is a barrier; I feel this person has privacy and she wants to keep it that way,” she said.
However, Bock also felt happy when she saw a woman taking off her veil in front of her. “What makes me extremely happy is when women take the veil off in front of me. I have a real curiosity as to what lies behind such a veil.”
The installation Imagine Me, consists of a 2, 00 x 2, 00 cube as well as 16 photo portraits. The cube is located in the middle of a room and is composed of 16 pieces of black fabric – four on each side. On the walls opposite these, the photos of people were arranged, four photos on each wall. The fabrics which match what can be considered average physical measurements are printed with text in golden colors, depicting the mental images of the Yemeni men and women while observing this entirely veiled woman, Anglika Boeck. The projections of these people consequently describe the imagined identity of the woman.
Visitors to the exhibit were, however, few, and comprised mostly of common visitors to the German House.
“It is not easy for a foreigner to interact with people particularly openly and get all of their photos in just five weeks. I think Boeck really has an ability to develop relations with others very quickly,” said Maryam, a volunteer in the German House.
Boeck is both the initiator of the project and at the same time the object of the various portraits, while the participants themselves are not only subjective portrayers, but also the object portrayed. The traditional roles of artist and model are questioned. The relationships between the partners of the dialogue raise a multitude of issues. Both sides are creator and created.
The intercultural and interactive approach of her project, acting as a link between art and anthropology, involved almost thirty people in a unique novelty not just for the German House, but for Yemen in general. The German House highlights one of its policies as being cultural exchange between the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of Yemen. The project has been realized with the kind support of the German Institute for Foreign Cultural Exchange.
Boeck was born in 1967 in Munich. She studied Interior Architecture and Sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. She received numerous grants, and she participated in several exhibits in different countries.
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