WID ALENIZI
ILLUSTRATOR, artist
“My name is Wid AlEnizi. I'm a Black-Arab female artist and soon-to-be architect. Inspired by the uncanny resemblance of Jim Crow's work, "Darky", and the ever-so-current offensive racist image of Black Arabs and Afro-Arabs in comedy.
In the comedy scene of the Arab world, black people are expected to be portrayed as ugly, lazy, non-educated people that are always marginalized in a degrading manner. From Blackface to exaggerated slang and appearances, we are expected to be the jester that entertains the "superior" (non-black people), to be laughed at, and to be mocked by the majority.
Due to this constant exposure of mockery and clownery, some Arab societies find it quite foreign to see Black-Arabs going against that insulting stereotype.
My artifact "Cloonery" depicts the indescribable feeling of defeat and disappointment of how we, Black people, are seen here - As clowns with "Coonery" behavior similar to Jim Crow's work. Although we are not what the majority says we are, it still does not ease the amount of racial discrimination we face.”
