Erotic art seeks to shatter Arab taboos

BEIRUT: Two women painters in Lebanon are pushing the boundaries with a new exhibition called “Erotika,” in which their depictions of female sexuality have sparked mixed reactions.

Using vivid colours, the pair are showing images of fetishism, homosexuality and even masturbation in a Beirut art show. They hope this will help to break taboos in the usually conservative Arab world.

Artists Nayla Karam and Maria Sarkis are displaying their Warhol-like pop art in a joint exhibition at a gallery in the Lebanese capital’s northern Christian suburbs. In “Auto-eroticism” for example, Sarkis presents a sensual depiction in green and pink of a woman who may be masturbating, a hand under her panties. In yet brighter colours but smooth lines, another painting called “The Mirror” shows a close encounter between the faces and breasts of two apparent lesbians.

“I’ve been working on the theme of eroticism for a year. The ‘morally correct’ is a relative question which changes with time,” said Sarkis. The fine arts graduate from the Lebanese University, who is in her twenties, said: “In the 19th century French artist Gustave Courbet was banned from the universal exhibition of 1855. “Today, he is considered one of the great masters of the Realist movement”, she added, referring to Courbet’s “The Origin of the World” which shocked many people of the time with its graphic depiction of female genitalia.

Another painting by Sarkis called “Submission” portrays the face of a woman wearing a black harness. “Sado-masochism” shows a torso with coloured stripes. “Our paintings are not pornographic, this is modern art. Sexuality and fantasies are part of reality. Why hide them?” Sarkis asked.

Karam’s paintings are more symbolic. “I have been inspired by eroticism for the past five years,” the 27-year-old said. In “Drained,” a naked woman presses her thighs against her chest and her forehead against her knees, resting after sexual intercourse. “Second journey” shows a double image of the body of a woman, in an apparent reference to multiple orgasms. “We do not want to shock people. One of our greatest pleasures is to see the different reactions of people, depending on their own fantasies,” Karam said.

She explained that her painting “Flesh Out” represented a navel pressed by two hands. “Some people saw it as buttocks, others as a hole, and some others as lips,” she said. The exhibition has triggered conflicting reactions among visitors. Dana Dennawi, a 22-year-old student at the Arab University, called the paintings “beautiful, without even a hint of vulgarity.”

Leon Khanamirian, a 25-year-old banker, said that in the Middle East, men are allowed to express their sexual fantasies in a vulgar manner, but when women artists paint sexuality, it suddenly becomes a scandal.

Abdallad Dadur, owner of the “Surface” gallery said he was “proud of these young people who are expressing themselves without any complexes. Hassan Mekdad, 52, called the paintings shocking. “The artists would have been killed if they lived in an Islamic neighbourhood,” he said.