BoysCraft

Ashraf Fawakhry

This work is centered upon an image taken from a Jean-Paul Gautier perfume advertisement, in which two sailors are featured in a hand-wrestling pose. In this work, Fawakhry underscores the symbolic tension between seductive ornamentation and violence, in the context of the dynamic between the sexes. The term "unsteadiness," according to the artist, "relates to supposedly ‘masculine' qualities such as physical strength, self-restraint, competitiveness and the ability to take risks - in contrast to supposedly ‘feminine' qualities such as tenderness, nurturing and emotion." The title also has political resonances, since it involves a play of words between "ikhtilal" (Arabic for "unsteadiness") and between "ihtilal" (which means "occupation"). This work, which at first glance appears to be a decorative piece created in a craft class, thus embodies the complex affinities between sexuality, oppression, violence, gender and occupation.

Born in Kfar Mazra'a, Israel, 1974; lives and works in Haifa