Picturing the Veil: Staging Faith and Ethnicity in Contemporary Art - catalogue essay

The words in the title of this exhibition Portraits: Reflections on the Veil summon up the tensions that characterise any discussion of the Islamic veil and the misapprehensions that descend on the women who wear it. Portraits suggests knowable individuals and social status - yet the media is full of images of veiled women that stand as generic, un-individual figures mobilised by conflicting interest groups in debates over everything from multiculturalism (whether seen as beneficial or divisive) to the threat of Islamic terror. Reflections suggests a form of contemplation and consideration that is often difficult to achieve in current cultural and political discussions, especially when trying to talk about Islam in the UK. Reflections also brings to mind mirrors, with associations of vanity and narcissism that many would see as negated by the decision to veil the female body.