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Yasmina Bouziane

Untitled No. 6, alias "The Signature"
From the series "Inhabited by Imaginings We Did Not Choose"

Artist

Yasmina Bouziane
Born in Washington in 1968

Title

Untitled No. 6, alias "The Signature"
From the series "Inhabited by Imaginings We Did Not Choose"

Date

1993-1994

Materials

Chromogenic print, 1/10

Dimensions

40.8 x 27.9 cm

Credits

Purchase, Peter Dey Fund, inv. 2014.166

Collection

Graphic Arts

The thirty-six witty self-portraits of this historic series play on the tradition of colonial postcards and of ethnographic and fashion photography. The pioneering Moroccan photographer Yasmina Bouziane
presents three different figures: the Oriental woman, the modern (Western) woman and the colonial photographer. All three are present in this photograph, which, according to the artist, “encapsulates the meaning of the whole series” by pointing the camera back at the viewer. The artist deconstructs colonial imagery by challenging the assumption that photography is documentary. She takes advantage of the procedures formerly used to fictionalize the history of colonized people, using bizarre props, such as cowboy boots, to draw attention to the artificial studio setting of the photographs.

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