When you aren’t allowed – but really want to
A Women’s Hammam in Kasbah
Talbi Said, unknown
Oil on canvas, 400х300
Tipaza, Algeria
Oil on canvas, 400х300
Tipaza, Algeria
How does the traveller see it?
(Fragment of a post from a Facebook page)
Islamic art and women’s legs
When you aren’t allowed to do it, but you really want to –– then you can. I googled this well-known saying and it turns out to be the words of none other than… Ukrainian-born writer Sholem Aleichem! It’s unlikely that Algerian artist Talbi Said (Salam Alaikum to him!) uses the phrase in his life, but it sure seems like the quote guided him as he was painting this piece: “A Women’s Hammam” in Kasbah, Algeria. This small canvas is fairly revealing by traditional Muslim standards, in which the “abaya”garment is supposed to fully cover one’s legs. I think it’s no accident that Said drew these abayas with their hems raised, thus provoking the viewer’s fantasies. Whatever the case may be, I saw a certain bit of mystery in the painting, so I brought it to Ukraine –– closer to Sholem Aleichem!
When you aren’t allowed to do it, but you really want to –– then you can. I googled this well-known saying and it turns out to be the words of none other than… Ukrainian-born writer Sholem Aleichem! It’s unlikely that Algerian artist Talbi Said (Salam Alaikum to him!) uses the phrase in his life, but it sure seems like the quote guided him as he was painting this piece: “A Women’s Hammam” in Kasbah, Algeria. This small canvas is fairly revealing by traditional Muslim standards, in which the “abaya”garment is supposed to fully cover one’s legs. I think it’s no accident that Said drew these abayas with their hems raised, thus provoking the viewer’s fantasies. Whatever the case may be, I saw a certain bit of mystery in the painting, so I brought it to Ukraine –– closer to Sholem Aleichem!
And what do you think?