Cover-up!
2014
- Medium
- black and white digital video, sound
- Measurements
- 4 min 25 sec (looped)
- Place/s of Execution
- Helsinki, Finland
- Edition
- ed. 1/5
- Accession Number
- 2015.555
- Department
- Contemporary Art
- Credit Line
- National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Suzanne Dawbarn Bequest, 2017
© Adel Abidin - Gallery location
- Not on display
- About this work
-
Cover-up! recreates the iconic image of Marilyn Monroe, from the 1955 film The Seven Year Itch, where a breeze rising from a subway grate provocatively lifts her dress. Replacing the iconic siren with an Arab man, and Monroe’s white dress with a kandora, Abidin considers how global politics informs identity, and he plays with Western preconceptions of the East. The work’s title suggests not only standards of female decorum but also political corruption. With humour and irony the artist addresses themes of cultural alienation by referencing racial stereotypes, pop culture and traditional icons.