patricia millns

Exhibit at Dar al Funoon, Kuwait, 

From 4th to the 16th of Feb 09

Installation and paintings with the theme al Thoub (dress) in arab culture. Patricia Millns explores the different aspects to what is a thoub: a dress for the women, but also goes with it, such as scent ( in an installation of wired thoub and petals of roses). She thought of how a woman would behave in a thoub, concerning her emotions: love, secrecy, intemacy, beauty...

She made  small leather binded books on each page a inprimt of lips with a a black thread sewd on it as if silencing the luscious lipsticks. On paper, she imagined the thoub in a construction of threads as if sawn as a dress and pieces of written material as if symbolized the protection given to women from the evil eye. She made jewelry and necklases out of teabags or torn painted paper on a leather string.   A few thoubs in white canvas fabric were mounted and painted on with symbols and brushes of painting in red and balck. Some other thoub were on paper and decorated to resemble the actual dresses.

She has been in the area for more than 20 years and is living between Oman and Dubai. She presented last year in Dubai DIFC an installation with the title "al Gutra" men head dress. She wanted to show how a simple matter like a gutra can actually have a depper cultural meaning and different understanding of social interaction. Through its similiraties, the gutra removes social distinction and " it unifes the wearer by a destruction of identity " and yet pushes them closer to an identity of the self beyond the appearences.

In this exhibition, full of colors and lights, decorative art is at its freshest. The message behind it is revealed with effort. Millns, at least, has taken the time  to dig closely and become familiarized with the behavioural attachement to arab concepts and interpret it in an artistic way.