ZOULIKHA BOUABDELLAH VISUAL ART AND CONTEMPORARY CALLIGRAPHY IN MODERN ALGERIA

This study discusses the development of traditional poles that influence modern visual arts based on Aljazair culture, from conservative cultures under Ottoman influence to become Liberals after the French colonization brought to the Modern era. The majority of previous studies only discussed descriptive art variations in Algerian culture or only included elements of art in Algeria. This study uses qualitative methods, data collected by in-depth interviews with Visual Art experts at the best institutions in Indonesia and literature studies on art and culture in Algeria. This paper does not encourage artists to violate Islamic rules in their work. However, this study shows that there are artists who come out of Islamic rules to achieve certain goals and are not taboo in art. The paper concludes that a religious concept that is applied in a state principle does not make and guarantee that all members of the entire community line are fully conservative and obedient to the conservative rules in the state or legislation that must be obeyed in that country.


Introduction
Algeria is home to many artists, both contemporary modern artists who are still alive today, or artists who have died and are listed in history. These contemporary artists who now symbolize the ethnic Albanians specifically in the field of illustration / visual arts, there are paintings that contain certain streams, chapels, and documentaries.
Before the culture of Islam and France entered the region, Algerian culture was a Sufistic culture led by several tribal chiefs and Sufi figures. Coupled with the concept of education and culture that teaches the Qur'an, tafsir, and arithmetic.
During the course of the Islamic dynasty, throughout 642 to 1832, the Islamic sultanate took turns and brought its own culture to the Algerian territorial peninsula at that time. Starting from the Fatimids to the Ottoman empire in the 17th century. All these Islamic dynasties brought their own style to Algerian culture and art.
Along with the expansion of the Ottoman Empire, Algeria experienced modernization, both in terms of technology, as well as administrative systems such as millet and also civil registration carried out by Ottoman Turks. Although giving a lot of influence in the administrative and state fields, the Ottomans did not give a special influence in the arts. This is because the Ottomans are very focused on the field of governance, although it does not rule out the possibility that Ottomans gave little cultural influence in Algerian art.
After the Ottomans released their power in North Africa and Algeria, France invaded throughout 1830 to 1962. Throughout its occupation, France brought not only damage, but also a change in the concept of education and cultural acculturation. The arrival of France made the local school closed. Learning methods, language use, and French culture are also applied. All aspects of French culture are acculturated with pure Arab culture from the North African region in general, apart from Ottoman rule at the time.
The existence of two influences among various Islamic sultanates in the east and the coming of the colonization of France from the west made the art culture in Algeria mixed with various aspects of western and eastern cultures. It also gives distortion to the indigenous culture of Algeria which is full of tribal aspects. These two different eras do not damage the culture and art in Algeria but provide an additional perspective and knowledge of the medium of work.

Visual Art and Contemporary Calligraphy in Modern Algeria
According to Professor of the State University of Surakarta, Prof. Dr. Nanang Rizali MSD.
"Visual art is art, which studies the form of visual forms which are divided into 3 disciplines.
These three disciplines are fine art, design, and craft.
Picture art has a very broad meaning. All things that look good on the screen, photos, photo reproduction in daily and magazine, use of floor plans, map depictions, and further applied in sculpting sculptures including drawing art. Because in the various objects above require its own art in its depiction, or in academic terms it is called an illustration process.
The various art products mentioned above can be specifically separated, because there are applied arts, where art can be useful directly for humans and become a tool in everyday life of people and their activities, or pure art that can only be felt by the audience.
If examined more deeply and specifically, etymologically, illustration means illuminating, derived from the Latin word "Illustrat -" which means lighting up. While based on lexical definitions, illustration is an attempt by a person or group of people to provide visual clarity to others.
When viewed with a common eye perspective or people enjoy art in general, we sometimes see visual works are things that are created from the whole idea of the artist. But many art historians argue that art is a broader context, namely visual experience and creating a visual culture. This visual culture includes every visual experience that we see and enjoy everyday, for example road markings, or business advertisements, these are not limited to just paintings or visual works in the gallery.
According to Malcolm Barnard in his book, Art, Design and Visual Culture, the visual aspect of visual culture is "All that is produced or made by humans that can be seen". This definition is narrowed in order to get a good and reasonable definition. Despite the good and reasonable nature of this definition, the definition is debated by some experts because the context can be related to things that contain or do not contain artwork.
Art as a cultural language, it certainly has its own language, for example performance art has a language of speech or language of voice. In this context, art has an art language, namely visual language, starting from thinking, acting, speaking, all using visual elements. These elements include colors, lines, texture, space, fields, these things are elements of form. The three disciplines above use visual language as its expression, as an example of pure art expressing these visual elements as individual expressions, in this case very few expressions are limited to personal art expressions. While the design and craft use the thing for communication, or for identity, or use it for problem solving. The problem solving is explained by the visual elements, lines, texture. These elements can also provide the value of beauty, because art is generally formed by two characters, namely skill, intelligence, cleverness, shrewdness. These things cause aspects such as the art of cooking, the art of making love, the art of pickpocketing, if art is only seen as a skill. However, in the case of art, there is a second character, namely aesthetic value, a necessity for beauty. With the inclusion of the second element, skill (the art of pickpocketing, the art of making love) is not part of art. Where in this study these elements must have a beautiful, visually appealing nature, appreciated by the connoisseurs of the artwork, for example the skill in drawing.
Visual work can be categorized into 4 broad categories based on the subjectivity of the working media. Subjects, or who is behind the work are divided into hand made, tool made, machine made, and computer generated [Barnard, Bliss. Art, Design, and Visual Culture, 1998.]. Each subject has an output that is different from the others. As for each of these outputs have their own shortcomings and strengths.
The first subjectivity is handmade, this category is basically involved in all processes of making visual works. Because in essence, equipment or machines require hands as the main and controlling resource. But when viewed through the point of view of literary work, we can see that many visual works are only done purely by hand. For example, some ceramic statues and works, both ancient and modern.
Second, Tool Made. On this subjectivity, the majority of people recognize that visual works are generally created through equipment. In this subjectivity, there is a level in which the craftsmen of visual art are introduced not only to hand skills, but more to the mastery of the tools. Visual and artistic culture brought here as an example are painting, sculpture, and sketches which are quite prominent.
Third, machine-made subjectivity. In the scope of the work of visual arts using machines, the production of visual arts is much larger in scale. Where in this subjectivity, people begin to consume visual culture in bulk. The mass work can be in the form of photos, pictures, become the consumption of many people due to mass production.
Finally, the most recent and modern production media, the production of computer-based works. The development of this technology makes visual works very easy to produce or publish. Trends develop and artists begin to switch to virtual or digital works. Unlike handmade or machine-based works, computer-based production has a source of work that can come from digital or physical forms.
In general, and its use, visual arts are divided into two types of art namely pure visual arts and applied visual arts. Based on the medium, the visual arts genre is divided into images, paintings, carvings, architecture, photography, films, and print works. Many of these artworks stimulate us through a visual and aesthetic experience.
Unlike visual art in general, Islam has its own visual arts and rules in it. The main thing that is important to realize before discussing Islamic visual art rules is the uniformity of style in the visual arts of Muslims that can be seen visually, that there are no ethnic or geographical entities from Muslims that represent Muslim visual arts identically although thematically Islamic art works alternately become symbols of leadership in certain times.
Every visual art tradition in Islam tends to develop itself through the favourite media and techniques of its time. Some, like architecture, are the needs of every culture, including in visual arts in Islam. Architecture has the strongest reason to be developed in the future, because that is the architectural medium which is partly the most typical of Islamic art works.
Other techniques, on the other hand, obtain various forms and emphasis. The sculpture in every line of art is almost non-existent as a major art form, however, there is an example of a case where all Mediterranean art at the time of Islamic growth experienced an extraordinary rebirth in the aspect of sculpture as was the case in the West. As for wall paintings that have existed before but generally are not good represent visual art in Islam. While from the aspect of Islamic painting, it is limited to book illustrations. While in terms of features, the unique thing about Islamic technology in his artwork is the extraordinary development carried out by so-called decorative arts -for example, wood, glass, ceramics, metal, textiles. New techniques are discovered and spread throughout the Muslim world -sometimes even transcending their boundaries in terms of both religious rules and ongoing culture.
The most basic thing that distinguishes visual art in general and visual art in Islam is that in terms of parallel development, the strong impact on visual art is about Muslim iconoclasm.
Iconoclasm here is about the representative visual form of living things. Even though in the Qur'an there is not a word for or against the visual representation of living things. But there are these representative things which are specifically stated in the hadiths and various studies that the depiction of living things is strictly prohibited in any aspect and becomes a conservative understanding of every Muslim. All of these prohibitions are based on a point of view where Islam develops an attitude towards contact between images of creatures and humans giving rise to cultures that have a negative attitude. Because of the visual art of the times when Islam came there were many individuals who came to lead scary idolatry easily.
In this case such as idolatry such as Latta, Uzza and Manat, which they represent a visual art representation in the form of statues worshiped in Arab society in the near future before the arrival of Islam.

Zoulikha Bouabdellah and Contemporary Calligraphy Art Works
In addition to developing in terms of presentation, ideology, and the meaning of works of art, the illustration art in Algeria also experienced a development in promotion and appreciation of the illustration artwork. This is based on the holding of several large events that are open to the public in the form of an exhibition in which there are illustrative artworks.
One such exhibition was "Algeria 1830-1962" held at the French national military museum in Paris. Regionally, this event is not held in Algeria. However, this event presents historical artefacts and illustrated works on a large scale, and invites one of Algeria's born artists, Jacques Fernandez.
Based on the leading news website in Asia, artradarjournal.com states that there are 16 Algerian contemporary artists who deserve to be known by the international community.
These 16 artists were introduced by prominent art consultants Zineb Sedira and Janet Rady because their art works were best in presenting the art of Algeria in this modern era.
Among these 16 artists there is an individual who explicitly uses calligraphy as an element in her artwork. This paper chose Zoulikha Bouabdellah as someone who was made a study through her artwork.
In modern Algeria, there are two striking differences against conservatives, especially Muslims as the dominant after Algeria's independence over France. This difference is the difference in political understanding that is often held between traditionalist and reformist Muslims. The traditionalists state that irrelevant things not only come from their opponents, but by évolué like Rabah Zenati, a member of the Association des instituteurs in digènes, who argues in the commentary périra l'Algérie française that the main source of resistance to change in the colony is not mass (said to develop through enforced contacts), but also from conservative marathon and religious clerical parties. These traditionalists reject the last reformist rhetoric, because as anti-Western and antimodern, these people strive to rise up against everything that develops through reason and drags it all back to blind faith, to sectarian fanaticism and living standards of the first centuries of Islam.

a. "Al-Aftal"
A descriptive review of al-Afftal's work is that this work uses video media in 4: 3 dimensions, the following picture is a fragment of the video 'Al Afftal', this work was completed in 2009, this work is a visual work in diaporama video, 2 minutes long. This image is a report from Gallery Isabelle van den Eynde that uses many layers and there is an aspect of calligraphy in the al-Afftal work. Romanticism paintings are used as background.
The description of the work is not stated in the work, only the date and media of the artwork.
Through a review of formal analysis, this paper argues that, art is presented in an Arabic nuance placed on a renaissance-style painting. Whereas based on the title aspect al-Afftal has the meaning "disabled" or disability. In influences, this paper also argues that Zoulikha dared to use the permissive aspects of this paper. In Islam (the majority in Algeria), it is not permissible to describe the body explicitly. However, Zoulikha dared to portray the work explicitly even if only as a thin, thick layer. Whereas based on the manufacturing process, this paper argues that this work was formed by using Machine-Made subjectivity. Where in this scope, the work of visual arts involves machines, where the production of visual arts is much larger in scale. In this subjectivity it is also seen that the public will consume the above culture and visual works in bulk. The mass work happens to be in the form of a video that will be consumed by many people because of its mass production.
Interpretatively, this paper states that Zoulikha's artwork in al-Afftal shows that the Algerian culture is the background of Zoulikha, where the Algerian culture is a conservative culture, does not affect the desire to be free in Zoulikha's work. Zoulikha's work shows the words "love" which in Arabic such as the calligraphy script above that ‫"حب"‬ becomes an explicit one with the painting of the woman behind it. Zoulikha seems to want to show love explicitly where love in the Islamic culture of Algeria is quite conservative.
In this case, there is a violation of the most fundamental thing about the context of visual art in Islam, namely about the parallel development that is closely related to Muslim iconoclasm.
Iconoclasm here clearly illustrates the visual form of living things. This is contrary to the Qur'an because the depiction of living things in the Qur'an is very limited, there is no visualization and is only described descriptively and can only enter the imagination for people not to meet the subjects described by al-The Qur'an. There are also things about the visual representation of living things and this visualization is specifically stated in the hadiths and various studies that the depiction of living things is strictly prohibited in any aspect and becomes a conservative understanding of every Muslim. Contrary to the conservative aspects of Islam above, it presents explicitly a woman who is making love. This also excludes a ban based on a point of view where Islam develops an attitude towards contact between images of creatures with humans giving rise to cultures that have a negative attitude. It can be in the form of idolatry and various kinds of human creation that can be enjoyed visually.

b. "La Roue"
Descriptive review of installation art works that are enjoyed visually is the work of an artist with competence in various forms of art which is none other than Zoulikha Bouabdellah himself. This visual artwork in the form of an installation is called "Two lovers -La Roue" in the year 2010, using Neon Led media in dimensions of 120 x 50 cm. On the artwork website, the manufacturing process is not included but it can be seen that the artwork is made using glass and neon materials. The artist does not list the art flow contained therein. This paper will try to provide a formal analysis of the artwork above.
In a formal analysis, the argument that this paper can provide is that the above artwork is presented with the concept of Arabic script calligraphy with permissive elements, not containing the verses of the Qur'an or hadith. From the color selection elements which are colorful, shows the representation of 2 different aspects, both those aspects are in the same gender, different races and other cases return to the artist or who enjoys the artwork. In the scope of the theme process, which is used by Zoulikha Bouabdellah is the seventh theme scope is to the phonetic aspect and interest in the form of letters to be used in the work or the meaning of a series of letters, either in the form of verse al-Qur'an or other texts.
Zoulikha Bouabdellah's artwork has unique characteristics in expressing her artwork.
Zoulikha likes to use the word ‫"حب"‬ in her artwork. The experiment used by Zoulikha is using medium such as neon and light manipulation. The assessment and interpretation of this paper regarding the work of zoulikha Bouabdellah is the Algerian artist's way of using media that is not common in creating visual works. This work "Two-Love" involves neon material in her work. The artist also gives its own meaning by stacking the letters ‫"حب"‬ into a figure who is loving. This figure can be a good or bad connotation back to the audience who see this work of art. This paper also feels that interpretively in this work of art Zoulikha tries to present the scope of the third theme regarding the artist's desire for a variable in the environment. This artwork feels like it has a social or spiritual message. The example which is related to spiritual, for example, such as social contribution intention that can be raised is like the context of disaster and community trends, where this paper also tries to interpret that the words ‫"حب"‬ which means love is a representation of the body of two people. These two letters represent each person in love activities that have something to do with overlapping. The subjective people in these two letters can be replaced by various creatures other than humans, whether animals or reproductive activities involving other creatures.

c. "Chéris -Nazra"
In a descriptive review of the work "Chéris -Nazra", it can be seen through the visual appearance, that the above work is a documented work in the form of photographs, this work exhibited in 2008 made from "Red laquer" paint made in 30x30 centimeters. In the website where the artist exhibits her work there is no process of making works and descriptive about the flow and influences that exist in this artwork.
In formal analysis, the argument given by this paper is to refer to the word "Nazra" or ‫"نظرة"‬ which means "a view". In works of art that contain elements of calligraphy, it is not interwoven in the work based on the holy verses of the Qur'an or certain hadiths. Presentation only uses Arabic script which has a certain meaning with aesthetic purpose. Based on the manufacturing process, the formal analysis that can be the argument for this paper is, this work is made with the subjectivity of the Made Tool. In this subjectivity, although in terms of rules, usually visual works are generally created through equipment, this artwork has a focus on the art equipment that does not involve machines. In the subjectivity found in artworks, a level is seen where the craftsmen of visual art are introduced not only to hand skills, but more to the mastery of tools. Visual culture seen in this visual artwork is a painting visual art work.
In this case there was no violation of Iconoclasm here by not clearly describing the visual form of living things. In the context of the point of view there is also no prohibition based on the point of view where Islam develops an attitude towards contact between images of creatures with humans giving rise to cultures that have a negative attitude, but only present a continuous mutual letter visualization and color visualization. It does not appear to be a picture of living things, only living things are represented by both sentences.
In interpretation, this paper has the view that there is a symbol of "blood-blooded views" that artists try to express in this work of art. This is based on the appearance of a visual pouring medium that uses red paint that resembles blood, coupled with elements of the words "Nazra" which means the view itself.

d. "Slogan"
Through descriptive reviews, the work of "Slogan" can be explained in several aspects. From the material aspect, this artwork is made using wood and glass media. In the description of the work it is also stated that the work is 80 centimeters wide, 300 centimeters long, and 10 cm thick. As for the year of creation of the work listed in the description of the work, this work was made in 2010.
In formal analysis, the argument that this paper tries to give is something that refers to the element of calligraphy from the work of the "Slogan". In this calligraphic element there is a sentence that reads "" ‫اعطني‬ ‫حريتي‬ ‫اطلق‬ ‫يديا‬ or in Latin script can be read with "aetni huriytiy atlaq yadaya" which means "give me my freedom". In this installation work, it can be enjoyed visually and in this calligraphic installation work, there is no content of the holy verses of al-Qur'an or certain hadiths. Referring to the previous statement, in this case there was also no violation of Iconoclasm here by not clearly describing the existence of visual forms of living things. In the context of the point of view there is also no prohibition based on the point of view where Islam develops an attitude towards contact between images of creatures with humans that can bring up a culture that has a negative attitude, but only presents a letter visualization and color visualization with a specific purpose related to the title of the work which is "slogan".
In interpretative, this paper tries to present the meaning of visual observation where the wood and glass material combined in maroon gives a firm impression and gives a visual affirmation with the combination.

e. "Mirage Floral"
Through descriptive reviews, this paper has several arguments. First of all, it is known based on the description of the work in the website, this work is named "Mirage Floral" which is placed in the CAAM. This work was made in 2016. Zoulikha categorizes this genre of images as an image using wall paint available in various sizes.
In this work this paper also argues through a formal analysis that, this artwork has a flow of arabesque art in which this artwork uses floral aspects. Visually, Zoulikha combines floral with Middle Eastern and airplane ornaments typical of France, namely mirage aircraft.
Interpretatively, this paper states that Zoulikha tried to show that fighter planes commonly connoted with destructive weapons could be attributed to decorations and entertainment facilities. Fighter planes are often associated with the release of bombs from space and are weapons of mass destruction. In this case, Zoulikha tried to present a different thing, where the massive weapon was changed into a work that looked like an eye and did not provide a frightening aspect in the eyes of the beholder.

f. "Pop Mosque"
Based on a descriptive review, it is known that the artwork of "Pop Mosque" was completed in 2012. In terms of overall size, the installation artwork is approximately 255 centimeters x 156 centimeters in the form of 15 panels measuring 47 centimeters x 37 centimeters per panel. The media used is the ink depicted on paper with a micro glitter varnis.
The formal analysis which is the argument of this paper is that this artwork has a flow of pop art with mosque architectural influences poured in pastel colors. The colors are spread from yellow, red and blue gradations. These colors have a possible connection with certain symbols attached to the mosques.
In interpretative terms, this paper states that Zoulikha tried to present the nuances of the mosque in the concept of pop. In the pop concept, there will be a mosque in a context that is not rigid and friendly to everyone, not segmented to one group. With that nuance, it is also seen that art works with elements of Islamic art can be present to young people without radical understanding or synonymous with violence.
This paper argues that the flow brought by Zoulikha Bouabdellah in the context of a work that does not contain elements of calligraphy is the same flow as most calligraphic works, namely the contemporary flow, and modernism. Zoulikha also tried to present romanticism that was different from the contemporary art of calligraphy in general. In her works of art which do not contain elements of calligraphy, the flow brought by zoulikha still has the same ideological rules, namely daring to use aspects that are beyond conservative religion which is the majority in Algeria, namely Islam.
Zoulikha Bouabdellah uses various types of media in her artwork. These media include installation of artwork, digital art, photography and videography.
In various calligraphic works, it is not uncommon for Zoulikha to present a blend of 2 or more art media. The work of al-Afttal is a combination of various forms of visualization that contain elements of art, the elements of art are visual images in the initial form in the form of photographs which are then sorted into a continuous form and have a duration into a video. in developing countries is that he succeeded in representing her country of birth based on heredity, although at present she is not an Algerian citizen, she represents himself as one of the Algerian descendants who are pioneers in the visual arts, apart from visual arts. It is something that violates some or all of the conservative rules or rules of Islamic art in general.

The Influence of Conservatism in Algeria during Zoulikha Bouabdellah's Period
In the context of the rule, it is felt that the most basic things about visual art in general and visual art in Islam towards the visual arts brought by Zoulikha Bouabdellah shows how the visual art brought contains elements that should not be carried in Islam, iconoclasm of living beings. Iconoclasm in this work of art is about a representative visual form of living things that is clearly illustrated in some visual works of Zoulikha Bouabdellah, because the Qur'an does not contain a word for or against the visual representation of living things, but there are representative things this is specifically stated in the hadith and various studies that the depiction of living things is strictly prohibited in any aspect and becomes a conservative understanding of every Muslim. Contrary to all aspects of human iconoclasm that are restricted in conservative Islam, Zoulikha's visual arts work presents various visual portrayals of people, living things, or aspects of the representation of living things which have the possibility of being contrary to the conservative Islam.
Although marked by the many non-conservative developments, there are no elements of marabouts and other mystical orders that are identical to introducing the understanding of pagan elements and their culture into Islamic practice and visually the work of Zoulikha Bouabdellah does not seem like a part that blends with religious structures "official".

Conclusion
This paper concludes that in this case study, the state of Algeria which was quite conservative, did not influence the artist to work that was quite permissive in expressing what was in the mind of the artist. Forms of conservatism, either in physical or ideological form, may influence the situation of a character, either in the work or in action, but cannot be generalized that conservatism can make a society as a whole, following that understanding, because influence can enter when individuals It goes through a series of education or obtains information about the understanding that is outside of conservatism.
A concrete example is Zoulikha Bouabdellah. Zoulikha's works are quite permissive even though she has lived in Algeria for a long time. This shows that the situational and sufficient conditions of Algeria for the nuances of Islam, both ideologically and practically do not prevent their artists from working that are quite free and may violate the rules or Islamic laws.
This paper does not encourage artists to violate Islamic rules in their work. However, this study shows that there are artists who come out of Islamic rules to achieve certain goals and are not taboo in art. The paper concludes that a religious concept that is applied in a state principle does not make and guarantee that all members of the entire community line are fully conservative and obedient to the conservative rules in the state or legislation that must be obeyed in that country.