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This BFA thesis covers issues on Islamic womanhood based on misconceptions illustrated through Western modernist mediums. The Evil Eye (or, in Arabic "Al-Ayn") is believed to place a jinx on an individual through an envious and loathsome gaze. The Western male gaze impacts the image of Muslim women, alluding to stereotypes that "jinx" the representation of women in Islam.
The five images detail each stereotype in correlation to the Five Pillars of Islam, showing the contrast and ignorance of the Western interpretation opposed on the Islamic culture: Shahada (Faith) and Uneducated, Salat (Prayer) and Domestic, Zakat (Almsgiving) and Submissive, Hajj (Pilgrimage) and Objectified. Although Orientalism is a topic discussed in art history, particularly in Western modernism, the influence of Western artists affect the perception of Muslim women in current day settings.
