The Victory: an Arabian Mythological Heroine

Fig. 1 Haji, Mariam. 2013. The Victory. Charcoal, graphite, pastel, pigment and varnish on paper. 800x270cm. June-November 2013, Biennale, Venice.

The Victory: Arab Heroine in Western Mythology

by Samia Sultagi

Fig. 2 Haji, Mariam. 2013. The Victory (detail 1).

Entering the Bahrain Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, a slight feeling of disorientation occurs being overwhelmed by an 8 meter long black and white drawing entitled The Victory (Fig. 1). It stands alone in the first private section at the entrance of the nation’s exhibition space. The rendering of a heroic figure leading a group of horses brings flashbacks of Greek and Roman depictions of mythological stories or heroic chronicles of battles. Looking closer the narrative begins to transform. The central figure (Fig. 2) is a woman; a type of Jean d’Arc but without all the armor. The drapery covering her body and parts of her hair that frame her oriental featured face, reiterating the monochromatic color scheme and bringing the audience's focus back to Bahrain. The observer, overwhelmed by her unlocking gaze, perceives more and more the work as it comes to life. Instead of the typical two minute walk through, the drawing calls for more simply because of the dual role of western classicism and Arabic features. The association calls for curiosity. Two personalities come to mind; the artist is either a European who lived in the Middle East or the opposite. Reading the name next to the wall at the entrance of the space ‘Mariam Haji’ confirms the Arab with the western education scenario. Haji, a name to never be mistaken with any other region nor religion. Ironically a very male association with for such a powerful feminist character. There is more to The Victory than meets the eye.

Fig. 3 Haji, Mariam. 2013. The Victory (detail 2)..

Haji not only places the female heroine central stage, she plays with history, humor and irony. No doubt talent is an aspect of aesthetic success. The details are what make the work unique. It does not require an artistic or visually critical mind to see the cleverness of Haji. The female figure leading horses into battle in a state of hysteria is riding a donkey (Fig. 3). Flashbacks of Picasso’s studies of Guernica (Fig. 6) or Leonardo da Vinci’s studies for Battle of Aughiari (Fig. 5) and Roaring Horse are bound up in the twisting sketches and renderings of the horses that seem to attack in all direction framing the central female figure. No doubt Arabian horses represent the pride and privilege of the Arab elite. It is the donkey that is associated with the common man, the farmer, Bedouin, and villager. The audience will have to manage with symbolism to understand artistic intentionality of the narrative of the underdog, the unexpected hero.

 Fig. 4 Regnault, Henri. 1868. Automedon With the Horses of Achilles. Oil on canvas. 

315 x 329 cm (124 x 129 1/2 in.) Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

At the pavilion’s main entrance site a stack of exhibit catalogues. Within the pages include the biography of the artist and description of The Victory; a story of identity and mortality. Bahrain and Haji create a unique harmonious discourse of identity, one of a nation in search of self after independence from British colonialism over thirty years ago and the other in search of individual inner persona. Haji studied both in Scotland and in Australia bringing new forms of representation to her artistic mind. Her use of historical references and western stereotypes express her personal inner conflicts. The catalogue refers the source of inspiration from the painting Automendon with the Horses of Achilles (Fig. 4) by the French artist Henri Regnault in 1868. A dual association is created by the artwork and artist. Regnault depicts the mythological characters of the two divine horses of Achilles, Xanoth and Balios, being tamed by Automendon, the groom. Haji, in this case, replaces Automendon as the female figure leading a many more horses forward. Regnault, a fine horsemen, was considered to be the up and coming artist of France who tragically died in the Franco-Persian war which in itself establishes a deeper association between Regnault and Haji and Europe and the Middle East. Beyond the formal choices the artist made in applying Regnault’s work, the historical reference and account also incorporate a uniqueness to the overall perception of the work.

Fig. 5 Da Vinci, Leonardo. 1503-04. Study of horses for the Battle of Anghiari. Paper. 19.6 x 30.8 cm. Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, London, UK

It was Martin Kemp who wrote Equal Excellences in 1987 that ‘every painter paints himself’. The nature of the artist is rendered within the works as a psychoanalytical approach to understanding artistic works. The autobiographical drawing iconographically reaches out to two diverse audiences that perhaps, in the end, the actual viewer is isolated into one of similar milieu; associated with the new confused Arab youth captive of opposing cultures and characteristics between Arab institutions and Western globalization. Haji speaks to her peers who, like her, are lost in the Arab identity struggle as they desire and strive to become a part of the ‘developed’ world, the West.

Fig. 6 Picasso, Pablo. 1937. Study V (for Guernica). MOMA, NYC.

Haji is one of the three artists presented in Bahrain’s debut exhibition at the Biennale. Waheeba Malullah and Camille Zakharia works are articulated through photography and collages. Curator Melissa Enders-Bahia, under the patronage of the Minister of Culture of Bahrain, selected works that transmit the national artistic art scene and social concerns as an aspect of the new comer expression within the intentionality of aspiring to be associated with the global contemporary art world.  The Victory is one of many works on display at the Bahrain pavilion at the 2013 Biennale of Venice. Some spectators may not have entered, other may have given the work the two minute walk through, and some may have taken the time or at least read the posh catalogue. Haji and co. may not even represent the actual art scene of Bahrain, as identified by Enders-Bahia and the Ministry; but the works merit a closer look, a closer understanding of the innovative contemporary art emerging from an unexpected or unpredicted artistic Arab art source. The Victory may or may not be formally appreciated but the work deserve an additional glance, if anything for the new desire to renovate Arab identity and relate to the emerging regional crisis young artists are facing as they desire to transform.

Useful links:

For more information on Mariam Haji, visit her website: www.mariamhaji.com

For more information on the Pavilion of Bahrain at the 2013 Biennale of Venice, visit website: http://venicebiennale2013.ideologicalguide.com/pavilion/bahrain/

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