Ghada

Amer:

'I

will

tackle

the

erasure

of

women

from

art

history

until

my

last

breath'

The creative practice of multimedia artist Ghada Amer has evolved across several decades. What began as a practice rooted in painting and embroidery now spans bronze and ceramic sculptures, traditional Egyptian appliqué and, most recently, painting on wooden panels. Yet her subject has remained strikingly consistent, even as the methods she uses to approach it continue to change.

Amer is often associated with her use of nude imagery, particularly of women’s bodies, but she does not see her work as a commentary on sensuality. That reading, she believes, has long obscured the deeper concerns of her practice.

“There is no question that I like to paint women’s bodies,” Amer tells The National, “but a lot of people are missing the point when they focus only on women’s bodies in my production. The reason that I use the feminine figure – and the naked feminine figure in particular – is that throughout art history the muse has always been female. Women were painted and represented everywhere, yet they were never acknowledged for their own talents or artistic contributions.

“I have always been and will forever be a staunch feminist,” she says. “The struggle to inscribe women in art history – to rewrite both women’s history and the history of art – remains an issue that I will tackle until my last breath.”