User:Khotoum/sandbox

KHOTOUM is a Costume Design (installation & photography) exhibition, Opened on November 20th, 2014 in Cairo,Egypt. Khotoum was represented at Critical costume exhibition at Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland on March 25th, 2015. Khotoum exhibition is inspired by Egyptian Painter, Abd El-Hady el Gazzar. It is about women, and for the women still suffering daily from the oppression and social strains that prevent them from becoming who and how they want to be.

KHOTOUM literally means “Seals” in Arabic, stands for women’s causes and their rights. It reveals and lights up those issues that are considered as Taboos in back-warded, religious, & conservative society. Those issues have been locked behind seals for long time, hence, forgotten. Issues like Child Marriage, Sexual Objectification of Women, Deprivation of Self-expression, and Societal Hypocrisy. KHOTOUM unlocks those seals in a fearless attempt to expose and discuss these taboos hoping to spread more awareness about women’s right to live and exist in a non-sexist and non-judgmental society.

KHOTOUM Inspirations KHOTOUM is inspired by the great Egyptian Painter Abd El-Haddy El-Gazzar. El Gazzar(1925-1966) is one of the pioneers in Post-modern Egyptian art. He occupies a unique position among the artists of his generation. Even after his death, his work continues to challenge artists, intellectuals, and critics, both in Egypt, and abroad. Gazzar's paintings are true reflections of the Egyptian society of the 1940’s to 1960’s. He uses colours and motifs as symbolic language to depict social and moral behavior in Egyptian society, which had been captured in many academic researches. However, mostly in the research work of Dr. Adeela Esmat in her study "The folk Motifs in El-Gazzar's paintings and their symbols in Egyptian Folklore, analytical study" that, uniquely, focused upon the predominant socio-historic and folk artistic influence of the indigenous Egyptian society upon the works of El- Gazzar. Through that profound research, as an Egyptian.. woman.. and a costume designer, Nermine Said was intrigued by the symbolic and meaningful messages behind Gazzar's paintings that shed light on women’s status in Egyptian society.

The following paintings were the inspiration behind KHOTOUM: “The Green Fool”, “Zelikha's wedding”, “The woman with an anklet”, and “The popular chorus” (pictures of the original paintings)

Khotoum Reflections 1st reflection: The seal of “The green fool”

In a society that looks upon women as a taboo, her image and voice are preconditioned to be locked behind that obscuring .. rather deforming veil ... depriving her from all her rights. She is not allowed to discuss out her needs, desires, thoughts, dreams, ambitious, and goals. Deprivation of self-expression, that institutionally humiliates women at her home and work, is part of the daily socially accepted practice. Forced to provide for themselves and their families, some women have to step into that large, ugly and harsh world where there is no respect for them as human beings, let alone their gender; even though they abide to those social preconditions.