Wellington's Dominion Post says "No place for women-only exhibit"

Wellington's Dominion Post has slammed the Dowse Art Museum for showing a film that only women are allowed to see. In an editorial titled "No place for women-only exhibit" the paper says the Human Rights Commission is investigating complaints that the ban amounts to gender discrimination, including one from local resident Paul Young. Whether his complaint is sustained is not that straightforward as he will first need to establish that he has suffered "more than trivial" detriment as a result of the difference in treatment, leaving the Commission to determine whether the discrimination was justified.

It's likely to be an academic exercise because by the time it is resolved the exhibition will be over. But the editorial says, as a ratepayer-funded organisation, the Dowse should not be using the public purse to stage exhibits from which some ratepayers are excluded and that Sophia Al-Maria should present her film Cinderazahd: For Your Eyes Only at a private gallery.

In an earlier news report on the Museum's decision to make the film off-limits to men, Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand spokesperson Rehanna Ali said: "We hope it promotes some interesting discussion, rather than reactive controversy. I think that as a country we are quite mature now in the recognition of the diversity of the community we have here." Her comment highlights the role of the museum as a forum - a place where opposing ideas can be explored in ways that lead to better outcomes than the reactive controversy the Dominion Post appears to be set on fueling.
Image: Dowse Art Museum director Cam McCracken who says, in line with the artist's wishes, men will not be able to view Sophia Al-Maria's film Cinderazahad: For Your Eyes Only, which features female family members and friends getting ready for a cousin's wedding, without wearing hijabs.

Cultural sensitivity v. sexual discrimination at the Dowse Art Museum

Following a complaint to the Human Rights Commission by local resident Paul Young, a senior associate at the law firm Chen Palmer has told the AAP that banning men from screenings of Sophia Al-Maria's film Cinderazahd: For Your Eyes Only at the Dowse Art Museum would be unlawful under the Human Rights Act and the Bill of Rights Act.

The Director of the Dowse Art Museum, Cam McCracken, is holding his ground saying the film will be screened in the exhibition In Spite of Ourselves: Approaching Documentary, in a space not normally open to the public. He will find a lot of support from those in the community who believe this is less about sexual discrimination and more about cultural sensitivity.

It's not the first time cultural considerations have had a bearing on the Dowse Art Museum's exhibition programming. Earlier this year the museum cancelled an exhibition by Mexican artist Teresa Margolles that would have filled a space with bubbles containing trace elements of water from a Mexican morgue after a trust acting for the local Maori iwi expressed concerns about it being shown alongside the sacred pataka Nuku Tewhataewha, which is housed in the museum. An iwi spokesperson said "using fluids from people who have died and blowing them onto the bodies of living people was culturally unsafe and if the exhibition had gone ahead the pataka would have had to have been closed to the public to prevent cultural contamination."

At the time, McCracken said the decision to withdraw the Margolles exhibition had been made out of respect for the sacred house and with the understanding and support of the artist.
Image: Qatar-based filmmaker Sophia Al-Maria

Gallery says artist's film will be off-limits to men, despite advice from the Human Rights Commission that it could be seen as sexual discrimination

The Dowse Art Museum is preparing to screen Qatari writer and filmmaker Sophia Al-Maria's film Cinderazahad: For Your Eyes Only in the exhibition In Spite of Ourselves: Approaching Documentary. In line with the artist's wishes, men will not be able to view the film, which features female family members and friends getting ready for a cousin's wedding, without wearing hijabs.

In a statement, Al-Maria said images from the film were from exclusively female zones inside a home. "They, like this work, should be treated as privileged and private, for women's eyes only."

Dowse director Cam McCracken has confirmed that the film will be off limits to men, in the face of advice that the museum's decision may be subject to a complaint to the Human Right Commission for preventing access to a sector of the public based on gender. "We respect the artist and the privacy of the women who are portrayed," he said."I haven't seen the work, and I won't."

And Islamic Women's Council of New Zealand spokesperson Rehanna Ali says: "We hope it promotes some interesting discussion, rather than reactive controversy. I think that as a country we are quite mature now in the recognition of the diversity of the community we have here."