What captured my attention about Diana Al-Hadid’s work was her unconventional use of the female figure. She plays with what’s there (positive space) and what is absent (negative space). This interesting interplay of matter and the lack of matter personally intrigued me. As critiques have pointed out, it makes the viewers think about the fragility of humankind as we see ourselves slowing dissolving.
After learning more about her thought process of her work it only adds depth as I learn about her inspiration from Renaissance era works (although her pieces look nothing like those from that era). Her pieces tie the past to the present. Introducing a newer generation to older works when diving deep into the process of how she decided to create her pieces. Although she has a fascination with the past, her work holds important meaning even to today’s current issues. For example, her Synonyms pieces that were displayed in Madison Square Garden in New York City. It can speak to the MeToo movement as the pieces suggest the female form and are resting on lawns enough to be seen, but not to be touched. This reflects society’s obsession with the female body and as critiques point out, what some wrongfully interpret as “lack of access” to them in the #MeToo era.
” Not everything is ours to take, women’s bodies are not yours”
Al-Hadid implies a woman but does not show a physical woman as because “women do not exist solely for visual consumption anymore”.