Lot 512: Susan Hefuna , Egyptian B. 1962 Woman Behind Mashrabiya ii Cibachrome print mounted in plexiglass

signed on the reverse Cibachrome print mounted in plexiglass

measurements note 209 by 124cm.; 82 1/4 by 48 3/4 in.

Paris, Louvre, Contrepoints , 2004/2005, L'Art contemporain au Louvre, 2004 - 2005, p. 17, illustrated in colour
New York, World Financial Center Courtyard Gallery; Detroit, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History; Chicago, Chicago Cultural Centre; Washington DC, National Building Museum, Lasting Foundations , 2005-2007

Executed in 2004, this work is number 1 from an edition of 3.
Susan Hefuna's experience of displacement as the product of German-Egyptian heritage is symbolised in her work by the mashrabiya, the decorative wooden grille that encases the windows of traditional homes in the Middle East. These carved frames protect the interior from heat and light, and improve the circulation of air whilst simultaneously protecting women from public view and allowing an interaction of sorts with the outside world. The mashrabiya represent a strange place both within and without the home or the street, a median stage where the obvious and the mysterious collide. It represents a struggle with the liminal, a state of inbetween-ness and a lack of belonging. The window is no sooner studied than the wall in which it is positioned, so whilst the shadowed place behind the grille acts as protection, it simultaneously transforms the confined and secluded into a voyeur. A person constantly observing, excluded from the hustle and bustle of the city. An exile in their own society. Hefuna says of herself, "evidently I am an outsider in both my cultures... this feeling of being in exile, constantly observing, wherever I live and belong, is what permeates my work." (Susan Hefuna cited in: xcultural codes, Kehrer, 2004, p. 45). In addition to identity and displacement, the mashrabiya begs questions of an intensely patriarchal society. There is a fine line between protection and confinement: is this withdrawal from society enforced or embraced? The very nature of Susan Hefuna's upbringing, the polarity of her cultures with all their awkward associations of identity, femininity, patriarchy and the rest, is encapsulated in the layers of imagery she employs. Layer upon layer of meaning and interpretation that are the very essence of her work.