All week, all I and my Arab and Arab-friendly friends (fellow Near Eastern studies graduates) have been talking about is Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World, being held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.  It is the largest congregation of Arab artists ever. As a new Washington, D.C. resident, my status as an expatriate […]

The Big Picture usually does an excellent job compiling a diverse set of photos. So it’s especially hard to believe that the blog couldn’t apply that diversity to the gender of its subjects. Women are in only four of 32 photos — that’s 12.5 percent. At the same time, there are multiple pictures of elephants and orangutans. And many, many photos of men. One would think that only men represent the world’s most populous Muslim country.

The Saatchi Gallery’s latest exhibition Unveiled: New Art from the Middle East has received considerable media attention. Despite the overused term, the art is refreshingly original, featuring 19 artists, most of them in their twenties and thirties, from Iraq, Iran, Egypt, Tunisia, Lebanon, Syria and Algeria. Their art is raw, tender, vicious and vile. Think […]

This was originally published on ISNA and Payvand. It has been edited for clarity. The first award for female Iranian poets will be awarded in the week of December 21-27 (first week of the Iranian month of Dey).   According to the news agency ISNA, in the news conference held on November 23rd, seven works […]

I admit, the title put me off a little. Princess Hijab? But when I looked through her flicker albums, I was blown away. Princess Hijab is an anonymous 20-year-old guerilla street artist based in Paris, who began her “noble cause” of “hijab-ising” advertisements in 2006. She does this by using spray paint and a black […]

I’m a member of a group called BuSSy, which aims to raise awareness of women’s issues in Egypt. Every year, we put on a play which we call “the Egyptian version of the Vagina Monologues:” real stories written by real women. So how excited was I when I found out that one of the co-founders […]

I’ve always loved viewing art, especially at museums, though I’ve never considered myself savvy enough to ‘get it,’ always resorting to a laywoman’s interpretation. However, I’ve learned that regardless of what the artist intended in his/her piece, the observer/viewer/art connoisseur will see what s/he wants. Therefore, art can be a very controversial arena for expressing […]

This post was written by Sahar and originally published at Nuseiba. Last week was ‘Fashion Week’ here in New Zealand, where both emerging and established designers show off their ‘creation’ on long impressive catwalks; a moment of ego basking in the glory of all of New Zealand’s fashionistas. Not surprisingly, I hadn’t taken much notice […]

The pen is mightier than the sword. Or the voice is mightier than the bullet, as the case may be. Except that if you’re Muslim, and you use words like “explode” or “hit,” it seems that all possibilities for metaphor might fly right out the window. The very talented Sofia Servando Baig, a Muslim spoken word […]

This was written by Liam Stack, and was originally published at the Christian Science Monitor. Cairo – A young woman stands under the spotlight inside a small theater at the elite American University, looking defiantly into the audience. She is “Muslim Woman,” one of four actresses performing a skit of the same name put on […]