Few would contest that no article of clothing has a more complex history than the headscarf.
Geography, politics and immigration have played an intensive role in societal perceptions and laws implemented of the headscarf for women, by choice or not. Whether portrayed as conservative, controversial or overtly rebellious in regards to national policy from East to West, or simply utilised as a practical solution to curbing harsh climates, one thing is certain: the nuances of what the headscarf represents to a woman has been underrepresented across modern media.
It was through this narrative that Algerian artist Maya Ines Touam chose to expand deeper on what lies beyond the veil in the artist’s body of work “Révéler l’étoffe” (Revealing the Fabric), a four-year-long project wherein Inès Touam travelled across Algeria documenting the different ways in which Algerian women approached and wore various forms of headscarves.
“For nearly four years, I travelled across Algeria through farmlands, coastal regions and high lands to meet with these Algerian women from different social, cultural, and generational backgrounds,” she says. “Through that, I captured the diversity of their fabrics and ethnic distinctiveness.”
Looking to the introspective livelihood of womanhood, (Francophone) colonialism, nationhood and politics has been the foundational point of the artist’s extensive body of work. “I was born in France, and my position as a woman from an immigrant background has forced me to question my own starting point.” Inès Touam notes. “The story behind this dual identity has been the driving force behind each project I made. To me, I deeply believe that the personal and the political are inseparable.”
Through highlighting sequences of history and politics deeply embedded in the everyday life of the Muslim women, the Algerian-French artist isn’t simply looking to unfold a face-value aesthetic for this project. “As I met these women, I also interviewed, filmed and photographed them to capture the diversity of fabrics – from the most liberated forms of coquetry to the most restrictive.” Photographing nearly two hundred Algerian women spanning from six different regions, the visual project showcased people from different landscapes, climates and ethnic backgrounds, which unveiled itself to explore the multifaceted approaches to femininity, conservativity or perseverance in just one single country. “I tried to understand what these fabrics revealed about these women, their stories and their transformation in an ever-changing world.”
In conversation with AD, Maya Inès Touam sits down to discuss the complete body of work.
AD: Can you walk us through the concept of Révéler l’étoffe (Revealing the Fabric)?
Maya Inès Touam: Révéler l’étoffe (Revealing the Fabric) was created in response to a university-led research project on colonial postcard trading in Algeria which projected an eroticising and reductive gaze onto women's bodies. They reduced their contribution to society through reductionist titles such as ‘Study of an Indigenous Woman,’ essentially freezing them into a generic identity whilst denying their personhood.
During my research, I was also surprised to learn that these were the only photographic archives of women from the Maghreb region in the 19th century. It was from this observation that my desire to rehabilitate these anonymous figures was born, restoring the individuality that had been taken from them.
AD: You briefly mentioned that this project felt personal to you, can you elaborate more on this?
MIT: Through the camera lens, I was able to discover and connect with my country of origin. This approach allowed me to go beyond family relations and instead forge a more sensitive connection. I met a collective of artists —thinkers, visual artists, choreographers, filmmakers—with whom I had great conversations about the social situation in Algerian society and the creative acts that result from it.
This network of relationships and affinities has allowed me to see my country differently, it was through these artistic expressions that has allowed me to place my work within a living, collective continuity.
AD: Coming from an Algerian background, much of your work appears to shed light on some difficult post-colonialist conversations (La FRANCE est tissus de migrations; Révéler l’étoffe etc. to name a few); How has this history and your own background shaped your work?
MIT: Edward Said once wrote that, no one today is purely one thing. Labels like Indian, or woman, or Muslim or American are nothing more than starting-points.”
"I was born in France, and my position as a woman from an immigrant background has forced me to question my own starting point which has been the driving force behind each project I made. I can even claim that some of my works were born in direct response to the political history that links Algeria to France.
From this, I believe it’s important to emphasise that in all pieces I create, there is this element of duality that is systematically made visible in a rhizomatic, non-linear way.
AD: What was the process of putting this project together?
MIT: For nearly four years, I travelled across Algeria through farmlands, coastal regions and highlands to meet and photograph nearly two hundred Algerian women from different social, cultural, and generational backgrounds and captured the diversity of their fabrics and ethnic distinctiveness. Algeria, both in terms of its landscapes and climates and its ethnic richness reveals itself to be a pluralistic nation, made up of nuances, languages, and intertwined traditions. This found itself in my work. Through these fabrics, I tried to understand what they reveal about women, their stories and their transformations in a changing world.
I also chose to work in a studio devoid of any contextual references. This deliberate visual neutrality was intended to confront the viewer with a single subject – mainly showcasing the evolution of women through their clothing, and mirroring the evolution of Algerian attitudes and customs between 2014 and 2018.
AD: What did it mean for you to encapsulate this (historical) diversity of Algerian women?
MIT: The idea behind this series was to also show that there is no single way of thinking about or wearing the veil. Every woman has her own relationship with this piece of fabric, and each cloth tells a unique story.
Above all, I wanted to highlight the diversity and plurality of these practices, far from the single or reductive symbolism it is often associated with.
