Chai Ma'a Yuba (Tea with Father)

Being the eldest and only female child, my father's nature towards me was inevitably protective and conservative. In Kuwait, the female role is still under scrutiny and her image must be pristine and presentable. A girl once grown is a representation of her parents upbringing and her challenge is to keep her public image pure so as to not damage theirs. Hence, due to the Islamic culture of my country drinking alcohol and ornamenting your body with tattoos is forbidden. A woman smoking in public is not respected and the use of tampons is forbidden as to not damage her virginity. I had to abide by these social restraints, and had to theatrically perform the role of daddy's innocent girl.

If I had not gotten married this year, I wouldn't have submitted this piece. The reason being is that although the properties in this work might seem mundane or common for most, I had to hide all of them from him. He was unaware of my sexual activity, my drinking, my use of tampons, or the tattoos on my body. He is still to this day unaware of most of my traits.

'Tea with Father' (2013) is a silver tray of taboos. A beer bottle stands in the centre with a tampon tea bag inside. In the sugar bowl are my birth control pills and under the drinking glasses are polaroids of my tattooed body. Two Parliament cigarettes are presented as mixing spoons, a trait I unfortunately adopted from my father. All of these objects were found during my years in New York.