3 Embroidered Headscarves

Cotton, Satin, Silk, Brocade, Taffeta, Embroidery Thread, Metallic Thread, Beads, Sequins

POA

As a 7-year-old girl growing up it Saudi Arabia, I always admired the brightly coloured and heavily embellished dresses and fabrics in the shop windows. I always question however the fact that I never saw Arab women wearing these brightly coloured clothes. They were instead clothed in a Black dress and head scarf called an Abaya and a Hijab.

O Prophet! Tell thy wives and thy daughters and the women of the believers to draw their cloaks close round them. That will be better, so that they may be recognized and not harassed.

Sura 33 (Al-Ahzab), ayah 59, Qur'an

It is customary for Muslim to wear black Abaya’s and Hijab’s when out in public as a sign of respect for their male partners and family members. It is also a way of retaining their modesty as it is felt that a woman’s beauty is for her partner’s eyes only.

My collection of headscarves looks at the idea that women disguise their beauty, and true identities under a black cloak. The eyes are a key feature in identification and are therefore the key element in my work. The black headscarves with green eye panels are symbolic of the hidden identities of Muslim women who wear Abaya’s. The white headscarf is a symbol of purity and with the blacked out eyes represents the contrary idea that the woman’s identity is to be hidden.