Inspired by pest fury

Bahraini banker-turned-artist Asia Fuse spent months producing a provocative collection of artwork after becoming the target of a sex pest.

The 24-year-old, who uses the pen name Asia Fuse, was subjected to bellows of harassment on the street last year whilst walking to her car after a long day at work.

The former market risk analyst was so shaken by the experience that she decided to use the fear, pent up anger and feeling of helplessness in a positive and constructive way.

Asia, from Sanabis, said: “I made the collection for a personal reason out of frustration while trying to deal with the way of life after I moved back to Bahrain from Boston in the US where I was studying.

“What I experienced happens a lot in Bahrain. There is a lot of gender inequality in the region and I needed to channel my frustration through something I love to do.

“When I came back, I worked in a bank for a year and realised I just didn’t have the drive to excel at it. I decided to take the riskier option. I love art and I’ve always been interested in it and that particular incident really pushed me towards it.”

The verbal assault included a comment from the fiend about what he would like to do to her even if she had a ‘face like a monkey’. 

After researching the world of subhuman and animal species and using her fury as a driving force, Asia painted a naked woman sitting on the floor with the head of a gorilla.

With no intent to make the subject sexual, the beautiful ‘creatures’ she ended up creating mirrored and examined the flaws in Arab culture, she says, after completing a series of works under the title of Desperate Times Call for Desperate Baa.

“I use animals in all my work in this collection and I intentionally picked ones that were not considered very attractive to reinforce the idea.

“The subject makes the person viewing it reconsider how we depict ourselves.

“I like my audience to interpret my work for themselves. Whenever someone asks me what a particular piece is about … I ask them what they think. My work is about everything from sexuality and gender to post colonialism.

“In the background of my paintings is a lot of brand imaging. Many people do not even notice until they look at it again. I think that’s what art is about – discovering something new everytime you look at a work.”

With eight large paintings and 20 smaller drawings, Asia recently went on to sell her pieces during a four-day exhibition at Block 338 Restaurant in Adliya.

When Asia is not busy painting, she can be found following her obsession with giraffes as the co-founder of The Dirty Tease T-shirt Co, which was founded in 2011. ‘Gigi’ the giraffe is included in all of the designs and is illustrated by Asia herself.

The controversial young artist is currently undertaking an internship at Al Riwaq Art Space, where she is gaining knowledge about the industry.

She is a graduate of marketing from Bentley University in Boston, but does not believe her art career can be considered a move away from traditional employment.

She explained that her love of art was just ‘put on the shelf’ until she found the right moment.

She said: “I’ve always thought differently. I gave up trying to conform … it makes my life more interesting. I have always had this love for art and a creative mind, so it wasn’t really a shift for me. It was just the right career change that I needed to make.

“Being stuck in an office not knowing what to do with my mind drove me crazy.”

One of her pieces entitled Man in the Mirror is Asia’s favourite. The painting of the giraffe was intentionally created to portray a ‘little bit of attitude’ with the animal smirking and she says it sums up the collection.