Western photographers working in the Middle East and North Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries often played up the exoticism of people and cultures of those regions in the images they produced. In staged portraits of women, for instance, their subjects were sexualized, feeding the fantasy of a harem catering to the whims of men. Alternately, they covered women from head to toe, presenting them as mysterious shrouded figures to be pitied for their lack of freedom and identity and feared for the mystery of what was hidden beneath their veils. Such images entered the public consciousness through postcards, magazines, and newspapers, amplifying false narratives.
“They’re part of what we call ‘othering,’ ” says Iraq-born photographer Sama Alshaibi, a photography professor at the University of Arizona School of Art whose work deals, primarily, with the ways in which women from the Middle East and North Africa are represented. “These were all staged portraits that were part of scene-making by these photographers,” she says, explaining how photographers created images that were intended to look like authentic representations of place. “The women were staged among other ‘Oriental props,’ like the Oriental carpet, the hookah pipe, painted backdrops of palm trees and desert vistas, and traditional, ornate clothing that often included a headdress or vessel for carrying water over their head.”
