Pop Goes Middle Eastern Art

Hannah is British born and bred, but like many of our wanderlust friends she has developed quite a fondness for this region. Although in Hannah’s case, her Moroccan partner might be the root of this interest.

 Hannah Habibi’s art strikes us as a bold take on the Middle East and North Africa. She is remarkably humble given her talents: she knows Arabic has a flair for calligraphy and can also understand Amazigh (a language native to the Amazigh people of Morocco) But what is most refreshing about Hannah is that she is not interested per se in the politics of the Middle East. She appreciates the region for its art, culture and most of all the humour the Arab and Amazigh people.

This makes her art immensely refreshing. She takes as her subject scenes from the typically ‘enigmatic’ Middle East and North Africa and transposes them into a familiar Western form: pop art. What she achieves by doing this is two things. By appealing to our vacuous brand oriented nature, Hannah suggests that we might have more in common with the region than we are often led to believe. She is not afraid of surrounding a burqa clad woman with bright pink lipstick kisses, or portraying an Amazigh lady in the North African garb, the djellaba, with the words “Wash aindik fee lawan Ookhra” (Do you have this in another colour). Her subjects, Arab and Amazigh women, are suddenly remarkably familiar. This gives her art an almost universal quality rarely achieved by those who take the Middle East as their subject. Beyond its appeal to the intellect, Hannah’s work also appeals to the heart. It is funny, attractive, and inherently playful. Our favourite painting in this regard is the Arab Wonder Woman which turns the notion of the oppressed Arab woman on its head rather. There is also a great tongue-in-cheek portrait of a niqab clad girl resembling a Hezbollah supporter. In this case though, she is wearing red heart-shaped sunglasses and a bandanna that says: “I’m a lover not a fighter”.

THE ARABIST