Tayyibah Mota

Through film, photography and mixed media, Coventry-based Tayyibah Mota considers the Hijab, a head covering worn by Muslim women believed to be a display of modesty and an act of devotion to God.

In Western or what we call ‘modern’ societies, this is a foreign practice. To some it is viewed as outdated or even oppressive. For some time, the Hijab and Niqab (veil) have been taboo and in some countries banned. Tayyibah’s work considers the Muslim women who observe the Hijab or Niqab who are now struggling to wear them. She is concerned with their emotions and their voices, sharing the experiences of the British Muslim women that observe this practice through her work.

Tayyibah has spent the past two years speaking to women of different ages and from different backgrounds that wear the Hijab, and has recorded some of these conversations and photographed them to show the diversity that can be found within the practice of Hijab.