Peeking Behind the Veil: Princess Hijab

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Interviews

Peeking Behind the Veil: Princess Hijabby Janelle Grace on August 6, 2010

(via twentysixletters.de)

I sit down with my laptop in a quiet, central Brooklyn café, not far from

Prospect Park on a slightly overcast day in August to interview the

mysterious Parisian street artist Princess Hijab. I order a San Pellegrino

with lime; she abstains from any snacks or beverages. Despite the time

difference from France, she’s alert and ready to engage with me. I go

into the interview knowing how she guards her anonymity, and the

concrete details of her identity remain elusive – this is an email interview

after all.

I start off by asking her about her inspirations. Her work brings to mind a

more cryptic sort of Adbuster culture jamming: cloaking, not necessarily

entirely, the bodies or faces of advertising’s scantily clad models in

dripping black hijabs, female and male alike. She responds, “I sort of

have a sealed vocabulary at this point, and expanding it takes a lot of

energy. Mostly I’m inspired by contradiction. My other inspiration is the

frenetic Parisian night … [T]he lit advertisements are everywhere, and

they’re relentlessly penetrating.” The parallel between the cover of nightand the cover of the hijab is an evocative one: both are oft romanticized



as possibly hiding sinister secrets and activities, a drape over unknown

fetishes. Princess Hijab references this herself when I ask what she finds

the source of the veil’s power as an image or garment: “The veil is a

thing of secrets and the hidden, of neo black. And of course it’s imbued

with a lot of racial, geographic, sexual, and gender-based meaning.”

A recent work by Princess Hijab (photo by Julie Caudan, via rebelart.net)

Princess Hijab is very aware of the many varied connotations of the veil,

and perhaps the multiplicity of identities and opinions related to it is

what keeps her from aligning to any one group or explicit political

message. Throughout her career, which visibly began in 2006, she’s

been accused of being a conservative right-winger policing advertising’s

overt sexuality, as well as a proponent of religious extremism, although

she does not claim identity as a Muslim (or much else for that matter). I

ask if she claims solidarity with any group, or if she even finds thosequestions important. Her position as a street artist, where the

clandestine is routine, seems relevant when she replies, “People have

the right to ask questions about my identity. But I’m anonymous; the

answers just aren’t a part of my art….I’ve got plenty of love for

individuals, but I don’t attach myself to any group; they tend to bore me

rather than comfort me. I’m not an advocate for any dogma. I like those

who are on the margins of any group though, as they’re likely to be theones thinking for themselves.”



Princess Hijab's work is particularly prescient in light of France's recent ban of the

full -face niqab, after years of controversy over the veils.

That also explains Princess Hijab’s artistic influences, as she says she’s

“primarily into ‘amateurisme’ and outsider art. I don’t usually like art to

which I’m forcedly exposed in museums. The exception would be David

Altmejd. I love how his work is shattered but strong, a real kick to the

gut.” She says she works in guerilla street art interventions and netart to

“allow people to come across things when they’re ‘just browsing,’ so

they can be completely unprepared for it.” These mediums certainly

lend themselves to more personal, individualized experiences, which is



a part of her ultimate goal. She wants to “close that distance,” between

advertising and individuals, particularly in regards to body image, further

saying that “[a]dvertising is something which, when it’s well done, stabs

directly into the personal, so it’s a little strange that we’re also so used

to it.”

Although I do believe her work is often misinterpreted as solely working

to hide bodies, and is perhaps challenging ubiquitous conventional body

imagery instead, whatever her explicit agenda is doesn’t seem to be the

point. She’s much more interested in ambiguity as a tool, which “allows

the questions and content of my work to form to the viewer. And I think

a society which asks questions is a healthy society.” Ultimately,Princess Hijab’s work is more about the society that breeds the culture

of the hijab and its mythology than the hijab itself.

Documents

Peeking Behind the Veil: Princess Hijab