The Veil: Visible and Invisible Spaces
The documentary exhibition is a visual response to the themes and issues presented in Heath’s new edited volume, The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics, University of California Press.
Accompanying the exhibition is a book form of the artists’ portfolios, Re-Interpreting the Middle East: Beyond Historical Stereotypes, curated by May Hariri Aboutaam. An interactive piece, “What Does the Veil Mean to Me,” invites viewers to write responses to the exhibition on silk headscarves displayed on laundry lines.
Jennifer Heath is an independent scholar, award-winning cultural journalist, critic, curator, and activist. Her work focuses primarily on social and environmental justice. She is the author/editor of nine books of fiction and non-fiction, including, The Veil: Women Writers on Its History, Lore, and Politics, and, most recently, Land of the Unconquerable: The Lives of Contemporary Afghan Women, co-edited with Ashraf Zahedi.
Heath will give a slide presentation on opening day, Sunday, February 12, at 2 p.m, in the Soda Activity Center, "(Dis)Covering the Veil: History, Lore, and Politics." Several of the artists are expected to be present.
The opening day program and campus events are co-sponsored by The College Committee on Inclusive Excellence, the History Department, the Women's and Gender Studies Program, the Communications Department, the Ethnic Studies Program, the Sociology Department, the Anthropology Department, and the Politics Department. Faculty adviser to the exhibition is professor of History, Myrna Santiago, Ph.D.
Exhibition Image: Anita Kunz, Girls Will Be Girls, 2006, pigment print, 16 x 20 inches