| Princess Hijab has been around since 2006, but having just found her I wanted to share. The princess is actually a 21-year old who "hijabizes" advertising that objectifies women. Politicizing Paris' trendy avenues and most fashionable thoroughfares, this anonymous guerilla artist spray paints veils and chadors on scantily clad female forms, as well as posts her own "hijab ads." Quoted in Muslimahmediawatch.org, the Princess (or PH, as she prefers) explained, "I would say my work is inspired from the anti-consumerist movements, I'm an advertising hijabist. In other words, I cover all advertising with a black veil, which is a dark symbol, a reference on pop culture, and way to hide elegantly advertising."
No one knows if she is Muslim or not, but PH's art hit a nerve in France, where debates over the veil—spurred by schoolgirls who wanted to wear them—challenged the nation's cherished notions of secularization.
I couldn't find a lot about PH online, just some recycled descriptions on alternative Muslim blogs. There hasn't been much mainstream coverage of her here and I understand why: American ambivalence about Muslim veils, female bodies and public art make PH a lot more complicated than Banksy. But at a moment when unregulated market capitalism is in free fall and traditional religion seems stronger than ever, why not ponder both their messages about women and the often occluded relationship between the two.
Diane Winston
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