Art Funded by you

Who will make me real? (Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern Photography)

Raeda Saadeh, 2003

© Raeda Saadeh, courtesy Rose Issa

This photograph forms part of the Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern Photography. This is an Art Fund initiative for the British Museum and V&A and the broad aim is to create a world-class capsule collection of major names and emerging talents in photography from the Middle East (whether living in the region or in diaspora), from 1900 to today. The Art Fund has given the two museums grants over £150,000 for the collection and additional support for the tour of the collection. Raeda Saadeh uses photography, video, performance and installations to explore issues of Palestinian identity, often focusing specifically on gender. In this highly staged self-portrait, the artist represents herself as an odalisque with a political twist. Rather than posing as one of the passive, sexually available women that recur in Orientalist art, she gazes directly at the viewer, her body encased in Palestinian newspapers.

More information

Title of artwork, date

Who will make me real? (Art Fund Collection of Middle Eastern Photography), 2003

Date supported

2009

Medium and material

Silver bromide print

Dimensions

Various

Content note: This object record is part of our archive and has not been updated since it was first published. It may contain inaccurate information or outdated language. Please get in touch if you think this record should be amended.

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