'The Red Chador': Tacoma Artist Anida Yoeu Ali Demands to Be Seen

by Nura Ahmed

On Saturday, June 1, I walked into a busy Volunteer Park, with cars lining the road. It was a cloudy, misty Saturday morning as a crowd came together in front of the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM). After a few minutes of anticipation, seven women, fully covered in sequined red, gold, blue, green, purple, orange, and violet chadors, walked out of SAAM and toward the center of the park. The chadoras walked through the crowd, speaking only through gestures, bestowing peace and warmth on everyone.

People greeted the chadoras, who responded with their hands on their hearts. They proceeded along the path to the museum steps, with the crowd following. With that, the Volunteer Park portion of the show came to a close, and the chadoras left to make their way to the next part of the show, Westlake Park, and ultimately the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) in Downtown Seattle.

Anida Yoeu Ali, a Tacoma-based international multidisciplinary artist, made her Seattle Art Museum (which includes SAAM) debut with this performance, The Red Chador: Afterlife, which, along with Buddhist Bug is part of her exhibit "Hybrid Skin: Mythical Presence," making her the first Muslim and Cambodian American artist to have a solo exhibit in SAM's history. Ali recently received the 2024 Artist Trust Arts Innovator Award for this work.

Ali and six other Muslim women wore the vividly colored chadors. The performers were Ali, Yiriedi Valencia-Martinez, Selma Al-Aswad, Sabreen Akhter, Nisreen El-Saadoun, Hiba Jameel, and Soraya Sultan Meer. The Red Chador was born out of colonial legacy and the response to global Islamophobia, misogyny, and racism.

Ali believes art is inherently political, and she uses her art to awaken the consciousness of the people who witness it. "There is a danger and a risk where you trigger some folks, because you are reflecting the things that they carry with them." Ali stated. The Red Chador is a piece that embodies what people experience when they come face to face with it.

In 2015, in Paris, all Ali could think about was the current political moment and what she could do to respond to what was happening to Muslim women in France. France had just instituted the Burqa Ban, and thus The Red Chador was born, commissioned by the Palais de Tokyo. Ali created a garment that represented Muslim identity by incorporating as much as possible of Muslim women's experience into the piece. She performed by sitting at a table, fully covered, with a pile of baguettes and a knife. "For 12 hours," she said, "I performed as an executioner of the French baguette, which was a national symbol."

Ali and The Red Chador have appeared in countries such as China, Malaysia, and Australia, as well as seven appearances in Washington, and one notable Seattle performance in 2016 the day after Donald Trump was elected. In 2017, The Red Chador garments were lost in transit during a stop in Tel Aviv. A memorial exhibition was held without the garments in Philadelphia; Phnom Penh, Cambodia; and Adelaide, Australia. The Red Chador didn't return to the Seattle area until 2021, when Ali performed in Bellevue on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

In post-9/11 America, Muslims are taught to shrink themselves to seem acceptable to the American gaze. Muslims are shown every day what can happen to you when you unapologetically take up space. For Ali, her incredible rainbow brigade meant taking up space in the streets of Seattle to show people that Muslim women deserve to be seen and heard now more than ever. That's what this moment is about for these seven Muslim women: "To stand tall, to stand proud, to stand brightly colored … to take up space on the streets of Seattle. For this one moment across six hours, you cannot avert your eyes. We are forcing you to see us and to feel our presence." Ali said.

Ali understands how valuable her voice is and how far it has taken her in a world dedicated to silencing her. Her art is more than what you see in front of you, it is a statement examined by the heart, prompting you to ask, "What is this piece telling me about myself?" When she does use her voice, she has seen the powerful things that can happen because of it. "It makes me physically sick if I'm being asked to be silent about something. I have grown up my entire life seeing the harm of racism, of misogyny, of classism, of elitism, and of the ways in which governments use their power and money to create such devastation," Ali said. "In many, many parts of the world, I believe that I have been given the power of my voice and my education and to not be comfortable in this life, but to actually do something about these issues."

Anytime she creates or performs, she holds this Islamic saying close to her heart:

"Whosoever of you sees an evil action, let him change it with his hand; and if he is not able to do so, then with his tongue; and if he is not able to do so, then with his heart; and that is the weakest of faith." —Hadith Nawawi 34:40

Ali's exhibit "Hybrid Skin: Mythical Presence" will be showing at the Seattle Asian Art Museum until July 7. She is also currently the senior artist in residence at the University of Washington, Bothell, campus, where she will be teaching her class Muslim Contemporary Artists in the fall. You can sign up or look up a showing of her exhibit on the SAM website. You can also follow her work on her Instagram.

Editors' Note: This article was updated to correct details about the time and place of "The Red Chador" performances in Seattle and Washington State.

This article is published under a Seattle Human Services Department grant, "Resilience Amidst Hate," in response to anti-Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander violence.

Featured Image: After "The Red Chador" visited Volunteer Park, the chadoras moved to Pike Place Market. (Photo: Bruce Tom)