Yumna Al-Arashi as Mercury
Yumna Al-Arashi as Mercury Self-Portrait as Mercury, in the museum garden of Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography
Yumna Al-Arashi as Mercury
In Body as Resistance Al-Arashi makes use of a wide variety of media – photography, book and sculpture – to oppose the oppression and stereotyping of women that she observes worldwide. She focuses on the ways the Arab world is depicted, explores the legacy of colonialism in our thoughts, and contemplates matriarchal traditions that are all but lost.
In an elegant arabesque, the Roman god Mercury leans on a current of wind, rendered as upward-streaming bronze rays. The artist Yumna Al-Arashi establishes a connection between herself and Mercury. In Roman mythology, the god of commerce and thieves is also somewhat mischievous. Her work expresses a longing to be embraced by society, a feeling that is far from self-evident for someone who has lived in the diaspora since birth.
