Representation of women’s nudity was a taboo in art despite a series of modernisation process within the Ottoman Empire when Halil Pasha painted Reclining Woman (1894).In this video work I impersonate the woman represented in Halil Paşa’s (1857-1939) painting. Although she is depicted with full clothes the iconography of the painting refers to reclining nude pose of Western art history. Art historian Ahu Antmen describes the pose as “clothed nude”.
I offer a contemporary take on historical and social backround of clothed nude and representation of woman body, nudity and being object of display.