Gulf Women Prepare for War

Maggi Hambling’s Gulf Women Prepare for War (1986-87) presents an unsettling portrayal of women at the front lines of conflict. A woman dressed in a black hijab sits in a desolate, barren landscape, her finger curled over the trigger of a rocket launcher. She is one of many women, creating a temporary front line in the unforgiving desert. The sand is tinged pink, as if lit by the early morning light, while swirling black dust seems to summon ancestral spirits, urging them forward. The composition draws parallels with Edouard Manet’ Execution of Emperor Maximilian and Francisco Goya’s Third of May 1808 in Madrid. Just as Manet based his work on a newspaper account of Maximilian’s assassination, Hambling’s work is based on a photograph from The Times documenting the Iran-Iraq War. The female figures are neither passive nor seductive but active, defiant, and powerful, subverting conventional portrayals of women in both war and art. The work reflects Hambling’s ongoing exploration of war and mortality.