It's a Man's World. The images portray the dichotomy of the Arab man and his search for identity in a culture seeped in paradox. Shurooq addresses the current political dilemma and parodies a society that cannot exist without double standards, hypocrisy, and secret private lives.
Shurooq Amin's 2012 series "It's a Man's World" takes over where "Society Girls" left off, hence exploring the other side of Middle Eastern society: men.
The title's irony is not lost in the images, most of which depict a hedonistic, taboo world of men. The images portray the dichotomy of the Arab man and his search for identity in a culture seeped in paradox. Shurooq addresses the current political dilemma and parodies a society that cannot exist without double standards, hypocrisy, and secret private lives.
This hypocrisy, of course, as explored in Shurooq's previous series Society Girls, is not the sole possession of men in the Middle East. After all, we are, by the very nature of our traumatized culture, a society that is rife with hypocrisy.
The series does not judge or presume what is right or wrong; in fact, though some images may appear offensive or negative in nature, they may paradoxically be viewed as celebrations of life and stolen freedoms amidst hopelessness.
People react rebelliously when forced into a corner, and as in war, where people continue to socialize to the point of forgetfulness, so it is with this silent cultural war that we are facing: the threat to progress, national liberalism, and personal freedom. Shurooq's characters are taking their rights and, because human nature is what it is, they are taking them to the extremes, because that's what people do when something is forbidden. The paintings merely serve as a mirror reflecting two paradoxical societies co-existing, utilizing socio-cultural images as socio-political tropes.
Opening Monday, March 5, 7-8pm
AL M. Gallery
Salhia Complex, Mezanine 2, Gate 4, Place 16 - Kuwait