#theres this one visual art piece ive losttttt but its like an orientalist harem painting thats like reanimated to lay the fantasies bare

[cruelsister-moved2]

genuinely someone needs to make a like 'how to spot orientalism in art' post for yalls aesthetic blogs im getting so sick !!! im not an expert on either art or orientalism but something that's usually easy to spot in portraits of women is the a voyeuristic gaze of the invisible white man peeking into imagined private women's spaces. the women are both sexualised and veiled, relaxed and unobserved yet they perform for an unseen gaze.

quick example from what was put on my dash today;

see how theyre in what appears to be a private courtyard with lots of women around. they're taking off shoes, chatting, resting, removing veils, to show that this is a private space that is forbidden to you, the european male observer. they're veiled, their clothing is all designed to obscure their bodies completely, but the woman on the right is gazing directly at you and seductively exposing herself for you. the painting is doing everything it can to show that you shouldn't be here, that your gaze is unwelcome, that these women are vulnerable and letting their guards down, and yet that they crave it, they're unwittingly soliciting it and always performing for it, because of their hidden desire for you to see through their modesty. their veils are no longer a cultural garment but something donned explicitly to tempt you, to indicate the exoticism and carnality of what lies beneath.

i'm not telling you how you can and can't interact with this art, i just think it's very important to be aware of what power dynamics are at play in images like these and what real life ideas they perpetuated - and continue to perpetuate - against real life colonised women.