The Orientalism for Sale series consists of various autonomous paper-cut drawings, sculptures, collages, and a neon light. Through them, a narrative is created that unfolds through the construction and deconstruction of myths, signs and symbols. These include the fantastical flying rug of the Arabian past, the decorative art of Islamic culture and its currency, brilliant geometric and arabesques patterns, and the imperialist Western hegemonic ideology of global capitalism and its chief currency, the US dollar bill. Such symbols and patterns are at the heart of Orientalist myth, Occidental fascination and Capitalist economy. In Deconstruction of the myth of the flying rug, symbols and patterns are deconstructed as hand-cut US$2 bill flying rugs. The works reside in liminal spaces that promote the discourses of Orientalism and Occidentalism, binaries that can redefine one’s self in new ways. They do this not so much by penetrating and possessing these discourses, but by encountering them, and in doing so, discovering the binarism of self and other.
