Ethics & Citizenship Movement: West vs. East

But, I'm not sure if I get it correctly. I understand being blindfolded on the East and intollerance towards the hijab on the West?

As an Arab, Muslim, etc etc, I'm not sure I get it either. Inability of both West and East to understand the culture of the other..?

I think its more focus on the inability for the west to understand the east

Hello
I am an iranian graphist.

This Is Very good.

thanks alot.

I think it would be better to replace east by west, then it would be clear that west is blinded to understand hijab of the east. as hijab is a protection against alot of social diseases which is reflected on alot of drawbacks.

Dr. Kamal
Creative Driector, Graphic Designer, Pharmaceutical Copywriter

I think it will be stronger if you switch the titles, well, it would say another story.

Kamala if you are a Doctor i am Santa.

Both West and East sucks... but East sucks even more. May God(Allah) bless West

"hijab is a protection against alot of social diseases" is the most pathetic sentence I ever read... I don't know if I have to laugh or revolt.

agreed

Please stop being so ignorant--that is exactly what the ad is trying to say. Before you criticize one group, try to research and understand why certain customs are customs. You would be surprised by how logical they are.

Please stop being so ignorant--that is exactly what the ad is trying to say. Before you criticize one group, try to research and understand why certain customs are customs. You would be surprised by how logical they are.

I think the idea is absolutely right becouse it's mean that the (western Woman) is blinded from the truth couse there are a group of people try to blind her up to not seeing the truth, and the (Eastern Woman) is covered by hejjab (which makes her looks like blinded woman but of curse she is not) but she still see the truth that western Woman can't see,....
one will ask me now?! What the truth you are talking about? Simple!!!
the truth is (the same punch of people) succeeded to make the western woman a cheap goods that everyone use whatever whenever they like, making her away from the Christianity which it forbidding Christian woman to be a hoer that every man can fuck by the name of fucking friendship, and they want to apply that experience in the middle east (and for Muslims only) to make there woman cheap as the western one.
That's why they fighting Hejjab because it's keep the woman like a saved jewelry?
this is my point of view?

love it.....

people in the east are intolerant of blindfolds. duh.

this is totally confusing. i got the message: the whole world sucks.
(nice statement for an ad btw)
where was this published or made? it says europe above. so i don't think the ad is intended to be understood only by people with a lot background knowlegde. so it doesn't work for me

I think what really needs to said of this advertisement is that visually, it is a failure as an advertisment but intellectually, as a photographic editorial, it is brilliant.

Superficially, it is showing the West wearing its own veil or 'hijab' of ignorance and at the same time it is showing the East's inability to look out into the world beyond them. However, I think the East image need more quantifying in this instance. In this instance the East's image implies that the individual can only see an limited amount of what is infront of them. Even if the individual has their eyes opened under the blindfold all they can see is blackness and the ineffable and formless because the weave is too tight and the individual strands impose an opaque lense by which to view the world. It is like being like so close to a prison bar that you cannot see beyond it.

It is also interesting to note where the words 'East' and 'West' are written. The word 'West' is written on the skin. It shows the West as a carnal and sensuous entity that is self-perceived as well as globally perceived. By contrast, 'East' is written on cloth which is the self-perceived modesty as well as the globally perceived cloaked modesty. There is a disrumption. The narrative that both are presenting do not match or meet up on a common ground.

Arguably, it is also the same female model in each image. It is two sides to the same coin. In terms of aesthetics, Western women wear a 'hijab'.They wear make up, pluck their eyebrows fix their hair. The outside world rarely gets to see them as they really are. Likewise, in more othodox Islamic nations it would be rare that we would see a woman unveiled as she really is. However, in this case we are seing her she really is. It is something quite uncanny that the photograph is doing. The photograph is hiding the part, the eyes, that normally would be presented to the world. This time we see the rest of her face something so dear as the made over face of the Western of woman.

In terms of graphic design and delivering a sucessful message the photograph is a failure. Advertising premises can be extrapolated from the the surrealist concept of the marvellous. It is supposed to be that glorious moment that an individual happens into a successful object. It is beautiful, it is shocking and it is enrapturing. It supposed to precisely and shock you in to thinking. It is supposed to be that moment of fate that pursuades you and challenges you to think differently. This ad exquisitely fails in that moment because the viewer is distracted. It was an attempt at being clever in a medium that necessitates fluidity. In other words, most of the the viewers time is occupied not by deciphering the message delivered by the Western half but distilling the true nature of the 'East' which of itself is exotification and problematic. The intended message and narrative that ought to be supplied should be a brige over a gully.

Indeed there are a number of additional narratives that could be read into this. However, I have only outlined the ones that have interested me. The advert is ofcourse trying to promote recognition of our visual and social prejudices. It is takling intolerance through tolerance and trying to push a recognition of diverging dialogues and trying to help us at least visually to find a common ground. It may in fact leave some viewers feeling annoyed or stupid because of the visual dissodance and it is very dissodence they are trying to dispel.

This is just as I see it,

Erin Harvey.

I think that this is a powerful statement! It is about the Hijab to a certain extent... but i dont think that was the only reason behind this message. I believe it is saying that the east is more so blind to the acceptance of people however the west has trouble with speaking up. One is extremely the opposite of the other and yet they are forced to be together!

Its really about the fact that women in the West believe that have all the freedom and the RIGHT way of life, however, they are BLIND. As Rozsak says "informed fools".Women in the East are covered but they CAN see....we know the truth.

someone switched around this image, its actually supposed to say WEST for the woman with the blindfold on.