Occupational labour : image production in South-West Asia & North Africa

Abstract

This thesis proposes occupational labour, which emerges from my analysis of local contexts of image production from South-West Asia and North Africa (SWANA). Occupational labour is a conceptual framework that delineates the processes of labour relations between bodily encounters with colonial structures and image-making, and it can be used to better understand the connection between art and anti-colonial action. The thesis draws from a diverse range of scholarly theories, from colonial studies to Social Reproduction Theory (SRT). I analyse the effects of occupation beyond its official end dates and recognise the intersection of colonialism with other structural forms of oppression, such as patriarchy and class. Overall, the thesis aspires to contribute to art histories of the SWANA region and more broadly by analysing how coloniality and labour intertwine to produce images for anti-colonial activism and solidarity.

The thesis uses many grassroots forms of image production which I analyse within an art historical context. Over five chapters, the thesis engages a range of media to examine how occupational labour has generated activist image-making in a variety of different but interlinked contexts, including: political graffiti as captured by socialist documentary photographer Franki Raffles in the early 1990s during the First Intifada (1987-1993); the land-based artwork of Vivien Sansour, Jumana Manna and Mirna Bamieh across rural areas of Palestine; Mahood Ahmed’s paintings of Marsh Arab women’s tattooing practices in southern Iraq under Ba’athist governance; Izza Génini’s 1987 documentary Aïta about a group of Moroccan women performers; and Thuraya al- Baqsami’s No To The Invasion poster produced three days after Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Each chapter expands the understanding of occupational labour using these image forms and colonial contexts, drawing differences across labour, image production and activism. Throughout, I propose that the mediation of images affects their political usefulness, emphasising the changing political role of images across time and space, and the complex interplay between image production and distribution for activist purposes.