NINAR ESBER

Ninar Esber’s work in several media presents us with acts of civil disobedience that challenge manifestations of male domination. She denounces discriminatory inequalities, engendered by patriarchal systems. Through performances, video, photography and sculpture she criticises the subordinate status of women in male-dominated
societies, particularly in the Arab world, compelling us to reflect on male – female relations today. In her text-based video, Triangle for Women Who Disobey (2012), she translates her rebellion against oppressive regimes and censorship towards women in a humorous symbolic language of resistance.
The video consists of an endless enumeration of interdictions and authoritarian bans on women’s conduct, such as: “Women who show their hair or their face”, “Women who wear trousers”, “Women who sit next to a man on a bus”, “Women who drive cars”, “Women who ask for a divorce”, etc.
The repetitive electronic musical soundtrack by Jacno underscores the blunting effect of this gruelling list of fatwas (legal opinions or decrees
handed down by an Islamic religious leader). The title Triangle also refers to the Nazi occupation of Europe, when people of different religions, races, sexual orientation or political opinions (who were discriminated against) were obliged to wear distinctive coloured triangular signs in the concentration camps in order to be identified. The
triangular form reappears in Gate of Disobedience (2014), a radiant multi-coloured stained glass window, consisting of more than 100 coloured glass triangles. Here, it is inspired by the Ishtar Gate, one of the eight gates of Babylon, honouring the Assyrian goddess Ishtar, goddess of fertility, love, war, and sex; Ishtar was a contradictory force that symbolised the bridge between the feminine and the masculine. Here, the triangle acquires a different connotation entirely: from the repressive
and discriminatory it radiates light and suggests a redemptive and enlightening symbolism, which recalls the persistence of those who fight for the rights of men and women on a daily basis.