Currently showing at Tate Modern is the world’s first major solo exhibition of Lebanese artist Saloua Raouda Choucair.
Choucair’s work is intriguing and thought-provoking. Not only is it gratifying to see such a talented artist receive recognition, it is also interesting to see how Choucair has approached representing women in her work. Nikki Hall went to the exhibition and found it compelling:
The curation becomes a commentary on the progressiveness of the female artist, how the singularity of the self-portrait allows the manifestation of an equal power between the gazer and the gazed. We do not linger over the curves of the female body that are prominent in Choucair’s paintings, but rather the composition of women in their social realms. Choucair’s bodies are bloodless but not at all passive. The voyeur is fixated on the actions rather than the female form.
