The Red Chador: Becoming Rogue
The Red Chador: Becoming Rogue
Anida Yoeu Ali
Warin Lab Contemporary
Feb 8 – Mar 29, 2025
“The Red Chador: Becoming Rogue” presents a new experiential work. Anida Yoeu Ali transforms Warin Lab Contemporary into a fashion boutique offering the public a chance to peek into The Red Chador’s luxurious walk-in closet. A Muslim woman of mixed Malay, Cham, Khmer, and Thai ancestries, Anida Yoeu Ali’s fabric-focused art honors her ancestors’ migration across Southeast Asia.
Ali interrogates overly simplified representations of who a person is and can be through larger-than-life personas, The Red Chador. Created a decade ago in Paris during heightened Islamophobia, this emblematic figure dons a chador, a garment that covers the head and body worn by some Muslim women. This exhibition showcases the latest iteration of one of Ali’s performance personas.
In this exhibition in Bangkok, Ali debuts all new work including 28 unique chadors, two neon works, six images, and The Red Chador: Stranded, a film made in collaboration with Masahiro Sugano.
The centerpiece of the exhibition consists of two new fashion lines of 14 garments on each rack made from flowing fabrics of shimmering varieties for a total of 28 unique new chadors. While one collection features iridescent, celebratory, and floral patterns sourced from the open-air markets of Phnom Penh and Bangkok, the other is premium minimalist made from a donation of fabric from The Jim Thompson Art Center.
While galleries are often places where artworks become artifacts behind a glass case, Ali and the Warin Lab Contemporary lower the barriers between visitors and the art on display. Guests are encouraged not just to look but perform The Red Chador by wearing and photographing themselves in any of the ‘fabulous’ chadors using the bespoke selfie stage. A selection of these photos will gradually appear in the exhibition, culminating in 99 images, an auspicious Islamic number that refers to the 99 names of Allah (God). Ali’s provocation through “The Red Chador: Becoming Rogue” invites visitors to try the chador on for size. Step into the role of an agitator and view the world through The Red Chador’s veil, experiencing a moment of solidarity with Muslim women
“The Red Chador: Becoming Rogue” exhibition will be opened on Saturday February 8th, 2025 with a special artist talk at 15.00 hrs and an opening reception at 17.00 – 20.00 hrs.
The exhibition will be on display until March 29, 2025 at Warin Lab Contemporary located at OP Garden, 4 Charoenkrung Road soi 36, Bangrak, Bangkok. Opening hours: 10.30 – 19.30 hrs.
