Purdah: Veiled Realities

An Artist Project by Mariam Magsi

Purdah is a term that encapsulates the concept and practice of veiling and voluntary seclusion from society. The word “Purdah,” derived from Farsi, can also have the literal meaning of “curtains.” “Purdah: Veiled Realities” is a multimedia project that explores this concept through a personal journey, inspired by the rich cultural and feminist lineage of my Islamic heritage, where women in my ancestry have voluntarily embraced various forms of Purdah, such as the hijab, Balochi chadar, niqab, and burqa. 

These ancestors include my great-grandmother, Karmi Shahn, an imposing matriarch with authority over the men and women in her family who managed a 25-bedroom estate in interior Punjab and wore a burqa. Perched upon a raised pedestal in the middle of her courtyard, she smoked hookah, offered her prayers, recited the Quran, and managed her domestic affairs with a 360-degree view of her home. My grandmother, Sarfraz Begum, also wore a burqa. She married my grandfather, a soldier in the British army, whose highly westernized worldview led him to detest his wife’s burqa. When he insisted she remove it, fearing foreigners would think he made her wear it by force, she defied him, proudly stating that “the burqa is my shahn, my honour. I will not remove my burqa for anyone.” My mother, Rubina Magsi, whose poetic pseudonym is Adeen Taji, engaged with multiple forms of veiling, despite being judged by the educated elites of Pakistan. My sister wore the hijab in her teen years, eventually removing it in her twenties. She was judged both for wearing the veil and, later, for removing it. 

It is now especially important to consider the nuanced lived experiences of Muslim women. In the current political climate, Islam is vilified, and mainstream media paints Muslim women as oppressed, propagating a damaging narrative that dehumanizes the diverse Muslim community. At its core, “Purdah: Veiled Realities” is a call on audiences to journey beyond what they think they know about those who embrace the practice. When we encounter a veiled person, our thoughts and judgments say more about us than them. Each photograph in this series is an invitation to look closer, to peer through the delicate interplay of fabric and perception, and see the complex truth. 

The photographs are staged in various indoor and outdoor settings. In Roots of Defiance, I wear an inherited white burqa and assertively place myself in the centre of the frame, backdropped by a galaxy of stars. I use my own veiled body to honour the ancestral warriors of my powerful, feminist lineage. In My Secret Garden, I photograph my sister watering our mother’s garden at our family residence in Karachi, Pakistan, while wearing a black burqa. In The Bubble Pops, I photograph a queer man wearing a black burqa, surrounded by transparent, fragile bubbles, subverting not only the gendered use of the veil, but also displaying resistance through anonymity. 

“Purdah: Veiled Realities” celebrates the unapparent complexity and depth of the human experience. This project aims to inspire a deeper, empathetic understanding of the bodily autonomy and agency of Muslims, urging viewers to look into the diverse and abundant well-spring of humanity, which includes those who choose to practice Purdah. It is my hope that these artworks will foster a more empathetic, curious and inclusive world—one where we strive to comprehend the underlying stories of each person we encounter, and to question rigid, colonial, eurocentric frameworks of thinking. Beneath polarized, surface-level perceptions of the world are narratives, aspirations, and truths awaiting discovery.

The above images are best viewed in our print copy or digital download, find it here.

Bio
Mariam Magsi, a Karachi-born artist of Baloch and Punjabi descent, works and resides in Toronto. Her work–exploring identity, gender, and migration through photography, video, performance, and installation–has been featured in Vice Canada, Toronto Star, CNN Arabia, Vogue Italia. She has exhibited at the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto and Pride Photo Award in Amsterdam. Mariam currently leads seniors-focused art workshops at Scarborough Arts and the Riverdale Hub.

This article is published in issue 41.1 of BlackFlash magazine. Get this issue