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- This event has passed.
Saudi Modern: Contemporary Art from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
November 15, 2016, 11:30 AM
(Please note the earlier starting time. Please arrive 15 minutes early if you are having lunch.)
The images most Americans have of Saudi Arabia are frighteningly predictable – deserts, camels, and oil; Sharia law, Islamic fundamentalism, and jihad; rich sheikhs in white robes, oppressed women in black veils, and terrorists. In this talk I challenge these destructive Orientalist stereotypes by introducing the relatively unknown world of contemporary Saudi art. The work of young Saudi artists presents a unique insiders perspective on Saudi society and culture that offers more nuanced and complex portraits of Saudi Arabia than those that circulate in the American media. An open air mosque made out of chain link fencing. Yoda sitting next to King Faisal as Saudi Arabia joins the United Nations. And a Saudi woman painting a junked car pink.
Loring M. Danforth is chair of the Anthropology Department at Bates College, where he has taught since 1978. He is the author of five books and has written extensively on Greece. His latest work, Crossing the Kingdom: Portraits of Saudi Arabia (University of California Press) is based upon a trip to the country he took with sixteen students in 2012.
The Library will have water and light refreshments available for guests. If you would like a sandwich, please fill out the order form and mail it with payment of $10 per meal by November 8. If paying by check, please make it out to the Margaret Chase Smith Library. You are also welcome to bring your own lunch.
Please register by returning the enclosed form or emailing Lynnette King . If you have any questions, contact the Library at 474-7133. We hope you will be able to join us for this novel perspective on a veiled and volatile region of the world.
Print and cut out this form and mail the Library at: 56 Norridgewock Avenue, Skowhegan ME 04976.
_________I/we plan to attend: Name(s):_______________________
_________I/we would like to order lunch. The cost is $10 per meal.
Please return this form along with a check made payable to the: Margaret Chase Smith Library by Tuesday, November 8.
Lunch consists of a Kaiser roll with lettuce, tomato, cheese, (mustard & may packets), and chips, cookie, soda or water and your choice of the following:
_______Ham ______Roast beef ______Turkey ______Veggie wrap ______ Check if you desire gluten free bread