Shaima Dief

Fakultät Kunst und Gestaltung,
Ph.d.-Studiengang Kunst und Design

THEMA: Ancient Egyptian Hybrid Deities in Visual Form as Mediator in Cultural Transmission

STIBET PROMOTIONSABSCHLUSSSTIPENDIUM 2021

Warum forschen Sie an der Bauhaus-Universität Weimar?

When I paint, I pay equal attention to concept and craft. I believe that –as a researcher– having studied the impact of the Bauhaus on the history of twentieth century art, architecture and design is the foundation of my belief. For that I have chosen to follow my PhD studies at Freie Kunst Bauhaus University Weimar, a school that shapes the mindset of the creator towards functionality and aesthetics alike. I chose this specific project because it best suits my belief in concept and craft, my creative approach research methods that fit perfectly with the University’s mandate of fifty percent theory and fifty percent practical / creative studio research. 

Was ist an Ihrem Projekt besonders?  / Warum ist es wichtig?

My Project on contemporary Middle Eastern female issues that include the notions of gender, identity, migration, subjugation, modern day slavery, struggle of wealth and power, formal and informal social control, concepts of freedom of choice on the self and own destiny. As a female artist who come from that geopolitical-cultural space, I have personally been subject to/from/for such notions that I consider problematic enough to build my research on.

Taking the term “post modernism” as an old and consumed starting point, I consider my project a “post-feminist work”, female creators –as well as other women from different parts of the non-Western world—are still suffering today from regressive / radical forms of neo slavery, subjugation practices of traditions and conventions that include informal social control (society, family, patronizing family hierarchy, etc), and censorship on both thought and expression. The role of politics-manipulated media as a source of aggravating such regression is explored in my project in artistic context.