* Content includes topics such as sexual assault and harassment.

THESIS PROJECT, TISCH NEW YORK UNIVERSITY 2021

   Shame, Guilt, & Femininity.  

In Egypt, a woman’s value is often measured by her “purity”. If a man forces his sexual desires on a woman and gets caught, she is the one to blame.

If a woman dares to                   about her traumatic experience, she is the one who suffers the societal consequences.

This treatment of Egyptian                 highlights a strange and deep rooted hypocrisy. One of the oldest civilizations, with a long history of matriarchal control, has recently shifted to a mindset that constantly subjects Egyptian women to unwanted eroticized behavior.

  Performance, headphones recommended  

Strictured Femme,is an audio and visual installation that acts as a looking glass, into the hyper sexualized context of the female figure within the Egyptian culture.
Illustrating how shame and gaslighting can be used to manipulate Egyptian women’s sense of value.

Installation Components 

The             of this piece is to create an experience that emits a sense of empathy towards the invisible Egyptian female voice.

I also wanted to design a safe space highlighting the emotional journey that Egyptian women, like myself have to endure when subjected to unwanted eroticized behavior.

The mind numbing hypocrisy from an old traditional proverb “                  as strong as a 100 men”, to the endless blame and slut shaming.

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Installation layout, and RCP  

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Walk through and renders

VISUAL SOFTWARE 

AUDIO ELEMENTS

Collaboration with Haaz.haaz

Research 

There is a level of complexity when trying to pin down a women’s role and sense of value within Egyptian culture, so I divided my background research into three chapters.

Chapter one takes an anthropological glimpse into women’s lives. Comparing examples such as Pharaoh Hatshepsut, to the 1980’s character troupe, a woman's main obligation is to please her husband. Due to the classiest system these obligations differ from each social level.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 

Ali Heraize

Andrew Scheider

Dina Khalil

Hany Osman

Hassan EL Sadek

Nancy Hechinger

Shady Noor

Omar Abdo

Young Min Choi

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Assualt Police

Cat calls of Cairo

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Mom and Dad