Red Shoes

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Red Shoes

2010
Collages
Photo montage and painting on archival paper
19 11/16 × 27 9/16 in. (50 × 70 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by Art of the Middle East: CONTEMPORARY (M.2021.3)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Lutfi’s engagement with women’s roles in Egyptian society is highlighted in Red Shoes, which shows a young woman wearing ...
Lutfi’s engagement with women’s roles in Egyptian society is highlighted in Red Shoes, which shows a young woman wearing a hijab and holding a cell phone; behind her are five negative print versions of herself, suggesting time-lapse photography. These shadowy images obscure her daring fashion choices, revealed in the final image—her headscarf, jacket, and pants meld blandly with the gray background, but her red top and shoes brightly peek through. Here, Lutfi portrays a hijabi who defies the standard perception of Muslim women, asserting herself through her style, attitude, and stance. Lutfi received her Doctorate in Islamic Culture and History from McGill University in 1983, then returned to Egypt, where alongside her dynamic art practice she taught at the American University in Cairo until 2009.
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Bibliography

  • Komaroff, Linda, Stephanie Rouinfar, Sandra Williams, and Sarah Mostafa Ahmed. Women Defining Women in Contemporary Art of the Middle East and Beyond. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2023. https://archive.org/details/women-defining-women (accessed January 12, 2024).