The Women's Work Issue Women's Work. Pen and Brush. 2019

pen + brush x of note daring the viewer to question if she is anything but in charge and control of their experience and subsequent perception of her. Equally arresting is Justice , where once more, the female protagonist, this time with her face clearly seen, gazes directly at the viewer. On her shoulder is a scale of epic proportions, as if she is questioning the historic injustices of women, but also history, and the realities of the present that impact everyone living in Alshaibi’s homelands—broken governments, the lack of the most basic human resources such as Sama Alshaibi, Justice, from the project Carry Over, 2018. Gumoil on cotton rag, 20.5 x 13.75 inches colonialism, a succession of dictators and foreign government interventionist disasters, and most recently, a rise in religious extremism. Some of these strong, mythical women are referenced in Alshaibi’s Carry Over —the great Scheherazade and Nefertiti amongst them. These easily recognizable women to any moderately and formally educated global audience are masterfully interwoven in the artist’s portrayal of everyday ‘women’s work.’ In the more assertive, unnerving, yet inherently enchanting gumoils, there is an embrace, yet contradiction to all that we think we know about women through visual culture transmitted over centuries—from odalisque paintings, to early photography, and more recently, photojournalism and 21st century digital media outlets. Our senses are quickly bombarded with the familiar, reinforcing 20 21 water, and shaky policies on human rights and women’s rights. Over the past few years, Alshaibi has masterfully moved towards embracing a sense of mysticism and a welcoming softness to her charged, artist-as-activist works, beginning with Silsila (2009 - 2017) and its corresponding video, Wasl (2017). Alshaibi’s ingenuity, shown here in Women’s Work, to play with the comfortable and familiar and reworked with a clear message, is the culmination of the direction her practice has been moving towards. Mabrook. Sama Alshaibi, Smoke, from the project Carry Over, 2018. Gumoil on cotton rag, 20.5 x 13.75 inches what we think we know about the women from this region, their place, and their history. The true genius of these visually soft works— soft not in context nor content— but in the very medium of print that Alshaibi has chosen to share them in, alluding to the aged, antique, and historic, is that it takes a deeper concentration to read the sheer activist stance embedded within these unabashed, softly beautiful pieces. In Smoke , the woman is entrapped within a mashrabiya box—a recurring motif in architecture from North Africa and West Asia, romanticized as much as the headscarf and hijab and more specifically, the women hidden behind these barriers. Confidently looking behind the mashrabiya-screened box, the female protagonist, almost jauntily puffs away, Women’s Work Sama Alshaibi, video still from Wasl (Union), from project Silsila, 2017, video with sound, 9:38 minutes, ed. of 3, music composed Grey Filastine, featuring Brent Arnold (cello) and Abdel Hak (violin). Courtesy of the artist and Ayyam Gallery.

The Women's Work Issue Women's Work. Pen and Brush. 2019 | Page 24