Does this photograph remind you of a certain odalisque by a certain 19th century French Neoclassical painter?

If so, pat yourself on the back for your art history knowledge. This work was modeled after Grand Odalisque by Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres but not in a tribute kind of way. This photograph is actually mocking the fact that Ingres knew absolutely nothing about African and Middle Eastern culture. He just painted whatever he damn well pleased, which turned out to be a white male fetishization of ~exotic~ women in a harem. 

Essaydi’s Grand Odalisque accomplishes an entirely different message. First of all, she uses a real woman as a model which was definitely not the case for Ingres, who was so intent on making his odalisque sexy, that he made her body proportions physically impossible. If you study Ingres’ odalisque closely, her back is a few vertebrae too long, her head is very small, her pelvis is facing the wrong direction and her left arm is about half the size of her right one. Essaydi’s anatomically-correct piece is different purely by being not so freakin' misogynistic. She also hennas onto the skin of her models her life story and thoughts in calligraphy. Though you might not think this is revolutionary, it is because women were never taught calligraphy in school. It was strictly a male thing, as henna was a female thing.

So this work gives a very unsubtle middle finger to the sexism in Islamic cultures, Orientalism in general, the delusional white male fascination with harems, and misogynistic portrayals of women. If only Ingres was here to witness this roast.

The most difficult aspect of this work to grapple with is deciding whether Essaydi’s photo or the Guerrilla Girls’ iconic appropriation of Ingres’ odalisqueis more subversive. Not that it really matters. In this competition everybody is a winner.