“The conflicts expressed in art, regardless of whether they are resolved or suppressed, can be found beneath the surface of any particular social order,” wrote Herbert Marcuse, the Jewish-born German-American theorist affiliated with the Frankfurt School. When it comes to photographer Ameera Ziyan, the social order in which she was raised continues to inspire her work, serving as a broad canvas for her artistic expression.

This is how Ziyan describes herself: “I’m a photographer, and I live in Yarka, a Druze village in the western Galilee. A lot of my work focuses on issues relating to social and cultural identity, and women in my society. My photographs are staged. Some of them contain very clear symbolisms through which I express my very clear statements.”

Virtually all of Ziyan’s photographs focus on her experiences as a woman in a conservative Druze society. But Ziyan is not an “ordinary” Druze woman. She is trying to instigate change, particularly in the attitude of Druze society toward art in general and photography in particular. In its broadest sense, the change constantly hovering in the background involves the status of Druze women and their ability to use their passions and skills in order to express themselves.

As her family’s eldest daughter, Ziyan has been under constant supervision ever since she was a child to ensure that she would not overstep the norms and expectations of a young Druze woman. Then she rebelled. A visit to a friend attending college in the Galilee convinced her that she should also pursue a higher education, so she registered to study chemical engineering without her parents knowing. “It was practical,” she told Al-Monitor. “Practicality and the ability to earn a living play an important role in our community in what people choose to study.”