Don't Judge a Woman by her Cover

  

BY EILAN BITAR

The message:

The idea behind this art project is the need to stop the stereotyping of women. Judging a woman by how she looks and not being able to see past the surface. Everyone has heard of the popular saying: “ Don’t judge a book by its cover”. Why can’t people act in the same way when it comes to women. If a woman is covered it does not mean that she is not empowered. People often look at women who wear hijab as weak women who do not have the rights or the power to speak their minds, and that is not true. A woman is more than what meets the eyes. A woman can do and be anyone that she wants to be no matter how she looks like or what she wears. The cover does not define who she is or puts limits on her freedom.

Influences:

The artist was deeply influenced by the “Women in the UAE” conference at the American University in Dubai (MEST FORUM, October 2015) and the fact that it talked about the museum of women. This conference gave people a glance of how women specifically in the UAE grew and worked hard to reach the statues that they have today. It also showed how they developed their personalities and identities through the women’s museum. The conference demonstrated an example of a group of hard working women who are trying to break the stereotypes and show the world that hijab is not an obstacle that prevents the woman from being successful and beneficial in her society. The artist Najat Meky also influenced Eilan Bitar in her art project. Najat Meky is a female contemporary Emirati artist. The way she portrays females in her paintings is very interesting and the shapes and silhouettes she uses inspired the shapes in Eilan’s painting. Female figures dominate her work. She also emphasizes on empowering women and stresses on their existence in every aspect of life and that is why female figures are always presented in her paintings.

The media style:

 This art project consists of a two dimensions drawing, using the technique of calligraphy. Only two colors are used in this project. The two colors used are black and white. The reason behind the color choice is because black and white are two timeless colors, unlike other colors that are followed and used as a result of a trend. And women and their issues are also timeless and will never go out of style. In other words, there will always be controversy surrounding women and issues that are related to women in our society.

Short biography:

Eilan Bitar is a Syrian. She is a finance student at the American University in Dubai. She lives in Dubai, UAE. She believes that the arts are highly important and artists in general have the rights to push boundaries as far as they want, as long as the result is good art with a massage. In her opinion, when the aim of the artist is just to push the limits the result will be bad art, and that is when the artwork loses its value. Eilan loves to use black and white in her work because she believes that together those two colors maintain the balance in life.