The Amazing Asma and Her Dashing Deer (2022) 拼贴 由 Toby Leon

In my digital collage, "The Amazing Asma and Her Dashing Deer," I channel the spirit of Asma Bint Shihab al-Sulayhiyya, a powerful Yemeni queen who defied stereotypes by governing with her face uncovered.

Surrounding Asma, miniature deer dance in lockstep on the wing of a bright pink plane — soaring through a sunset sky. Embodying the symbolism of Yaʽfūr in Islamic tradition. In myths and artistic motifs, deer often symbolise femininity and the fleeting passage of human life. Their graceful dance around Asma is a reminder of the transient nature of life and the enduring power of legacy.

And the name "Asma" connects the artwork to several influential Islamic women, not just Asma Bint Shihab al-Sulayhiyya. Women such as Aṣmāʼ bint Marwān, a 7th-century poet whole dared to express her thoughts in an era when women's voices were often silenced. Her poetry was a testament to her courage, her words a weapon against oppression. Or Asmāʾ bint Abī Bakr, a companion of the Prophet Muhammad, was a paragon of bravery and faith.

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Series Statement

My digital collage series, "Candy Babel’s Carnival for Kidults" is a metaphorical midway. Drawing from the ancient narrative of the Tower of Babel, a monument of human audacity that was splintered into a mélange of tongues and cultures, I find connection with echoes of the travelling circus — bringing together disparate groups of people ‘under one tent’. In this reconstructed Babel, the tower becomes a stage, a spectacle, where the othered and the marginalized, the 'freaks,' dare to exist in their full, vibrant humanity. And people pay to see it. Encapsulating the essence of play in its purest form — joyous, unifying, transformative.

In this carnival, play isn’t recreational, it’s revolutionary. The carnival becomes a tableau vivant, where each performance is an act of rebellion and acceptance, a safe space in the most vulnerable of places — on stage. The queer, the different, the non-normative, can all find a home here, shining stars in this periphery of limelights.

I present to you a kaleidoscopic world that basks in its rainbow otherness. Revelling in its queerness. Through this work, I hope to engage in a dialogue about the myriad ways in which we express and experience our humanity. I aim to challenge perceptions, to provoke thought, and to celebrate the beautiful complexity of our existence. Come, join the carnival, and rediscover the world through the vibrant lens of Candy Babel's Carnival for Kidults.

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