In the photography gallery, rotating works by the Moroccan-born artist Lalla Essaydi incorporate Islamic calligraphy, a sacred art form dominated by men in part because of the training required to master it. In “Converging Territories #30,” currently on view, Essaydi inscribed it on her models’ clothing, bodies and surroundings with henna, a decorative dye traditionally applied by women. The four women and girls pictured are in a house where female members of Essaydi’s family — including Essaydi — were locked in isolation, sometimes weeks at a time, for disobedient acts like entering spaces impermissible to women.
12 March 2020
