OXFORD, ENGLAND.- Veil examines one of the most powerful symbols in contemporary culture. Touring the UK during 2003, this is the first major exhibition and publication to explore the position of the veil in today’s complex global order, endlessly repositioned by changing world events.   

Twenty artists and film-makers address the question of the veil in all its complexities and ambiguities, challenging any single or fixed cultural interpretation. Veil’s core is made up of a wide cross-section of international contemporary artists including: Faisal Abdu’Allah, Kourush Adim, AES art group, Jananne Al-Ani, Ghada Amer, Farah Bajull, Samta Benyahia, Shadafarin Ghadirian, Ghazel, Emily Jacir, Ramesh Kalkur, Majida Khattari, Shirin Neshat, Harold Offeh, Zineb Sedira, Elin Strand and Mitra Tabrizian. 

Veil spans the spectrum of contemporary visual arts practices, with an emphasis on lens-based work; on one level, the project is an exploration of the roles of photography, film and video as contemporary tools for addressing notions of the veil. This emphasis is underpinned by the inclusion of historic and contextual work including Gillo Pontecorvo’s ground-breaking documentary-style film The Battle of Algiers (1965) alongside the work of lesser known twentieth-century figures such as French psychiatrist and photographer Gaëtan de Clérambault and the French military photographer of the Algerian War Marc Garanger. 

One of the many unique qualities of this exhibition is the visual dialogue between newly commissioned works and existing key works. Faisal Abdu’Allah’s large-scale photographic diptych The Last Supper has been critically acclaimed for its exploration of religious iconography within the context of the black British body. AES art group is a Moscow-based art collective that produces controversial dystopian images of an urban near future. Shirin Neshat’s dramatic series of photographs explores women’s dynamic participation in contemporary Iranian culture. Elin Strand has been commissioned to produce a series of site-specific performances fusing together traditional manufacturing techniques in stitching with conceptual ideas around adornment and the body. Ghazel’s time-based self-portraits present a humorous spin on the video diary and travelogue. Majida Khattari has been commissioned to stage one of her live art fashion shows that critiques the clothing manufacturing industry, specifically for the newly refurbished Modern Art Oxford.  

The exhibition disrupts contemporary notions of the veil but ultimately the project intends to become a starting point for a new international dialogue across cultures within the visual arts arena. Initiated by Zineb Sedira (artist, curator), developed by Jananne Al-Ani (artist, curator) and Sedira, and curated by Al-Ani, David A. Bailey (curator, writer), Sedira and Gilane Tawadros (director, inIVA), Veil is an inIVA touring exhibition. 

A major illustrated publication, Veil: Veiling, Representation and Contemporary Art is published alongside the exhibition, with essays by Jananne Al-Ani, David A. Bailey, Alison Donnell, Hamid Naficy, Zineb Sedira and Gilane Tawadros, with a preface by Reina Lewis and reprinted texts by Leila Ahmed, Frantz Fanon and Ahdaf Soueif. Edited by David A. Bailey and Gilane Tawadros, and published by inIVA in association with Modern Art Oxford. 

This project is supported by Arts Council National Touring Programme in association with the Iran Heritage Foundation with additional support from Bernina Sewing Machines.