Abstract
The story of Islamic art in Australia is not limited to metropolitan museum collections. A variety of objects collected from the Middle East (notably Palestine, Syria and Egypt) remain in regional communities, often undocumented in private collections. These are linked to Australian s who traveled to and through the Middle east following the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, and subsequently because of Australians serving in the region during the two World Wars. By the late 19th century, regional Australians displayed a real interest in exotic notions of what they understood the Middle East to represent. Their conception of Islamic visual culture can be seen in the entrepreneurial actions of the tentmakers of Cairo, who were quick to exploit orientalist perceptions through the textile art of khayamiya, or Egyptian tentmaker applique.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 9 |
| Pages (from-to) | 20-21 |
| Number of pages | 2 |
| Journal | TAASA Review |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 3 |
| Publication status | Published - Sept 2020 |