Paper

2009.03

May Hariri Aboutaam

Gift

Gift of Mary Hariri Aboutaam

2008

15-1/4 in

20 in

Re-interpreting the Middle East II: Artists Re-thinking Today's Terminology (2009)

Cultural/Historical Context

May Hariri Aboutaam was born in 1969 in Beirut, Lebanon. Aboutaam received her MFA at Boise State University 2003 where she taught foundation classes. Her work deals with exploring the concept of how memory manifests itself in the contexts of both place and self-identity. Her past and current installations involve time within colonial space, post-colonial space, and the engagement of a critical portrayal of the representation of the third world as the "other". Her experiences are contextualized by being a third world citizen living in the West during the post-September 11th saga in a state of “in-betweenness”. Profoundly aware of the construct of Orientalism, the Characterization of the Middle- East as trapped in the past is critically examined in her work, and the situational implications on the notion of identity, especially in the US.