The Women's Work Issue Women's Work. Pen and Brush. 2019 | Page 22

cotton
pen + brush x of note
strength of the female protagonist, regardless
of the setting, costume she wears, or suggested
era, is the central focus.
In her most recent body of work, Carry Over
(2018), a photography series debuting in
Women’s Work at Pen and Brush in New York
City, the female protagonist is once more on
view in a variety of socio-historical gazes. At
first, a quick glance of these gumoils (a process
and weathered effect that gives photos an
instant antique quality), makes it seem as if they
are directly out of the late 19th century. The
subtle irony comes upon deeper observation.
Woven among images featuring more historic
18
practices of ‘women’s work’—the Milk Maid
and the Water Bearer —are more heady subjects
such as Justice, Smoke, Sheesha, Marjana ,
and Gamer Stack . These directly counter the
Orientalist, voyeuristic gaze rampant in 19th
and 20th century photography of women from
West Asia and North Africa, no doubt assumed
by French and English colonists and other
curious, foreign voyagers-turned-voyeurs.
This region of the world, known as the cradle
of civilization, once celebrated strong women
in North African and West Asian history by
bestowing upon them an almost mythological
status. This was before colonialism, post-
Women’s Work
Sama Alshaibi, Milk Maid, from the project Carry Over, 2018. Gumoil on cotton rag, 20.5 x 13.75 inches.
19