Yeah/Neon manuscript page

Jamelie Hassan

born 1948

Yeah/Neon manuscript page, 2005–2015

Material/technique: glass; neon; photograph; paper; Masonite™

Dimensions:
Object Height/Width/Depth (Height x Width x Depth): 53 x 73.5 x 11 cm
Weight (Weight): 7 lbs

Credit line: Museum purchase: Richard and Virginia Nadeau Fund

Accession number: 2025.0001

On display: Marshall Balcony

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Bold Women

This work by Canadian-Lebanese artist and activist Jamelie Hassan features a photograph of a page from an 18th-century Arabic/Persian grammar manuscript. It is overlaid with the last letter of the Arabic alphabet, ى (yaa), which symbolizes completion, depicted in red neon. For Hassan, the use of Arabic calligraphy raises political questions and issues of translation. Although she grew up hearing her parents speak Arabic, she is not fluent in the language. Hassan says: “My struggle for language has somehow become a subtext in my work.”