Image size is 9 3/4 in x 8 inches (24.8 x 20.3 cm); mat size is 18 in x 13 15/16 inches (45.7 x 35.4 cm); paper size is 11 13/16 in x 10 inches (30 x 25.4 cm).
Istanbul (Sisters) (1996), continues Serrano’s longstanding interest in religious symbolism and his investigations of the politicization of the human body. The photograph depicts two women veiled in the Islamic tradition of hijab. Rather than expressing an explicit political position, the photograph quietly challenges viewers to ponder religious values and cultural assumptions. The title, Istanbul (Sisters), transforms the implications of the sisters' concealing attire by indicating that the portrait's context is Turkey's capital. Officially a secular state, Turkey has prohibited women to wear headscarves in public buildings and universities since 1980. Thus, their attire may be a deliberate choice or defiant expression of faith rather than an imposed social or religious obligation.
Known for his controversial subject matter, American photographer Andres Serrano (b.1950) often utilizes vulgar materials like bodily fluids to create willfully provocative and often controversial works. Born in Brooklyn, New York to a Honduran father and Haitian mother, Serrano studied art at the Brooklyn Museum Art School. His early works were influenced by the pre-war European art movements like Dada and Surrealism. His work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, including Stux Gallery, New York, NY; Yvon Lambert, Paris, France; New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY; Museum of Contemporary Arts, Chicago, IL; and a retrospective at the Barbican Centre, London, England.
Selected Public Collections:
Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico
Institute of Contemporary Art, Amsterdam, Holland
Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
Museum of Contemporary Arts / MAC's - Grand-Hornu, Belgium
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australia
New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
