Object Record
Images
Metadata
Accession Number |
2017.26.00 |
Catalog Number |
2017.26.01 |
Object Name |
Poster, Theater |
Collection |
Ayman Daydban |
Date |
2017 |
Description |
One poster in Ayman Daydban's Censorship series, which features classic Arabic movie posters censored with mud, paste, and cut outs. Artist Statement (2015): A movie poster is the first connection between the film and the viewer. Even if this person will not see the film or is not a fan of cinema, the poster will catch their eye. They will see it in many different places and in many different forms long before the movie is released. The places where this poster is found multiply. In the streets the numbers of posters raise issues of censorship among millions of viewers each day. In the streets, these bold advertisements confront people before censorship puts a stop to it. It's well known that in other decades many posters had mud thrown on them by an anonymous viewer. In this way, they were protecting their eyes from the exposed bodies of the movie stars highlighted on the poster. This societal censorship was much more intense than the censorship of the cultural ministries. This phenomenon remained strong until the advent of so called "clean movies." Since this new style emerged, the practice of throwing mud on movie posters to protect the viewers' eyes has decreased significantly. Perhaps the most famous instance of this societal censorship is the poster of 1968 film An Undisturbed Honeymoon by Ahmed Fouad. On the poster the actress, Nahed Sherif, has her back exposed all the way down to her butt while her husband in the film, Hassan Youssef, looks upon her as if he is about to kiss her. This was perhaps the most shocking poster following the defeat of Egypt in the June War. The poster riled up the anger of the people and soon the actress's back was covered, as if she had been wearing clothes the whole time. Mahmoud Qasim Book of Egyptian Cinema Posters Dar As-Sharouq 2005 In this collection I employ the same ideas as Mahmoud Qasim through the extreme censorship of rare and original Arab film posters. I use several diverse materials and methods to do this. As you can see, censoring these objects changes their meanings and form to such a degree as to render them ineffectual. |
Artist |
Ayman Daydban |
Search Terms |
Activist art Arab American art |
Subjects |
Art Censored works Censorship |
Lexicon category |
8: Communication Artifact |