Les Flâneuses

In this work, Amer juxtaposes pornographic-magazine photographs of sexualized women with images of the innocent young girls of Walt Disney’s film version of Snow White. By bringing together two female stereotypes in this signature work, Amer illustrates how women have been marginalized.

Ghada Amer's embroidered and painted canvases, which deal with issues of empowerment and representation, confront traditional ideals of womanhood and assert her belief in women's rights. Embroidery is traditionally a women's craft and her work links traditional women's work with contemporary desires for self-expression and power. In Les Flaneuses, the serial images - including the iconic image Snow White - speak to the representation of women, while the myriad horizontal black threads make it difficult to see the images clearly.

The word flaneuses refers to a French term coined by Baudelaire - le flaneur: a man who walks the city to observe and participate in the urban experience. The term is associated with an understanding of modern society in relationship to the individual, a theme Amer is also exploring in her work.