Trailblazing Israeli-Druze photo artist fights against tradition
Through her photos, Ameera Ziyan showcases the changes the Druze community is undergoing in its attitude toward art and gender equality.
“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.”
