Nabeela Vega

Thahab explores the identity of a Muslim American femme in post 9/11 diaspora. She shrouds, molds, and dissolves into environments using her body, in gold. She inserts herself in spaces not made for her. She considers the contemporary and domestic, affected by notions of power and binaries.

She creates her own space, a new space. She finds value in repetition and banality to drive a point. She uses photography and video, documentation to build conversations around the orientalist lens. For you to consider your gaze as perpetrator or conspirator. Her form functions. Her body gains force in movement. Tensions rise between her and her surroundings, raising the urgent question of what assimilation entails given the current political climate and the rise of Islamophobia in the United States.

At the Fiber Optic Center, 23 Centre St.
New Bedford, Massachusetts 02740-6322

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.