A DIFFERENT look at the Middle East is the subject of the latest exhibition at the Art Exchange gallery at Essex University.

Realism in Rawiya is a collection of pictures taken by the first all-female group of photographers to emerge from the Middle East.

Presenting images that offer insight into the reality of life in Arab countries, the artists bridge the worlds of documentary and art, challenging the westernised idea of the repressed Muslim woman. The exhibition captures the vision of the Rawiya, which in Arabic, means “she who tells a story”.

All artists in Rawiya established their individual careers as photojournalists by working for news agencies and publications across the Arab world. Jess Kenny, gallery director, said: “Someone here saw a picture in the national newspaper, when the show was being exhibited in Nottingham, and when I saw it I thought we must have that here. We made sure the photographs we used were ones with a wider meaning, showing a different view rather than victims of war.”

The exhibition is being held as part of the prestigious British Comparative Literature Association’s International Conference, which has the topic of migration as its theme.

Hosted by the department of literature, film and theatre studies, keynote speakers include Rosi Braidotti, from Utrecht University.

Realism in Rawiya: Photographic   stories from the Middle East
Art Exchange,
Square 5, Essex University.
 01206 873184