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Forces of Change: Artists of the Arab World Salwa Mikdadi Nashashibi  Published by Schneidereith and Sons, Baltimore, MD. Pp. 142 `FORCES OF Change: Artists of the Arab World' is considered the most comprehensive document in existence on Arab women artists. The volume is the exhibition catalogue of Arab women artists organised by the International Council for Women in the Arts that was first held at the National Museum for Women in the Arts in Washington DC in 1994. The catalogue explores art that breaks down cultural stereotypes and examines the realities of life for Middle Eastern women. Art critics agree that this travelling exhibition of women arts is the first of its kind to certify that women in the Arab world have played a major role in creating and fostering art. It was followed by other travelling exhibitions from other Arab countries with the same conception. According to Nashashibi, the exhibition and catalogue provide an introduction to contemporary Arab art for the American public and convey the ideas and concerns of Arab artists. “The art in the exhibition is intended to elicit admiration, outrage and amusement. Most of all, though, it is intended to communicate,” writes Nashashibi. She explains, in the book's introduction, that she met and interviewed most of the participating artists, as well as others whose work was of interest in order to collect the required information for an exhibition from a region of 21 countries. The catalogue comprises articles and analyses by experts in different fields of art, such as Laura Nader, Etal Adnan, Shehira Doss Davezac, Todd B. Porterfield and Wijdan Ali. It also consists of examples from the works of over 50 artists from Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Sudan, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates. In the article with the same title, `Forces of Change', Nashashibi, Nader and Adnan write that the contemporary art of Arab women reveals a growing self awareness rooted in admiration, revulsion and resistance — signifying recognition of the complexities of their history and of the wider world they inhabit. “Their art articulates an active resistance to domination and the creation of a new culture, sometimes achieved by exploring and reintegrating layers of history,” the authors explain. Using art, they add, Arab women are seizing the moment to make an imprint upon the forces of changing in their lives. In her article `An Overview', Princess Wijdan presents a study on several Arab countries, examined in chronological order, according to the point at which Western art movements were introduced. Wijdan writes that the development of modern art in the Arab world has been divided into three stages, which apply to almost all Arab countries, regardless of the time frame in which they occurred: The learning, the self-discovery and the search for identity. “The rise of Arab modernism was an evolutionary process, influenced by factors both cultural and political,” writes Wijdan. The book can be found at Bustan Lil Kutob bookstore in Shmeisani. Hada Sarhan Monday, January 19, 2004 |