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Princess Hijab leads the artistic fight

Posted Sep 24, 2009

There are of course many ways to make your views heard but in this multimedia age it's not always easy making yourself heard. The anonymous 20-year Parisian based guerrilla artist, Princess Hijab is fighting her cause instead using the power of visuals.

“Hijab-ising” advertisements such as the one above by Dolce & Gabbana featuring the Italian swim-team, Princess Hijab uses spray paint and  black markers to cover people's faces and bodies in an anti-consumerist stance that examines the way in which advertising is used to sell products. Believing in “subverting visuals", her artistic responsibility forces society to look at advertising and nudity in a new way.

As Princess Hijab remains anonymous, no-one is of course sure if she is in fact a Muslim but her work, which takes these black veils that cause so much controvery in France's secular society firmly into the public sphere.

 

Through her portrayal of the generic black-veiled figures the hijab is transformed into urban iconography, taking the debate outside of politcial controversy and allowing the public to see the argument in a different light than that portrayed by a conservative media.

In her own words, the artist has been quoted as saying,

"My work is inspired from the anti-consumerist movements. I’m an advertising hijabist. In other words, I cover all advertising with a black veil, which is a dark symbol, a reference on pop culture, and a way to hide elegantly advertising. It is also a study on territories and identities."

For more from Princess Hijab's work see her Flickr site at www.flickr.com/photos/princesshijab.

Source: muslimahmediawatch.org

Photo Credits: Princess Hijab

 

 

 

TAGS: hijab princess hijab street art veil paris guerilla art street art urban art advertising dolce&gabbana

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