ADEL ABIDIN / IRAQ

Iraq born 1973, works in Finland and Jordan 2003–

The video work Cover-up!, 2014, 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.

BIO

Abidin was born in Iraq, and lives between Helsinki and Amman. He has represented both Finland and Iraq at the Venice Biennale. In 2007 he created a fictional travel agency within the Nordic Pavilion advertising tours to war-torn Baghdad, and in 2011 his critically acclaimed Consumption of war video installation featured at the Iraqi Pavilion.