Hood’s Red Rider No. 2

Cinderella’s prince holds her slipper at center while a powerful veiled heroine takes control above as a reimagined Red Riding Hood. Sikander explains, “European fairy tales, which carry deeply entrenched gender bias, were part of my childhood storybooks in Pakistan. When I started examining manuscript painting as a young adult, the passive depictions of women often perturbed me. I wanted to make female protagonists who were proactive, playful, confident, intelligent, and connected to the past in imaginative ways”

Shahzia Sikander (born 1969)
Hood’s Red Rider No. 2, 1997
Watercolor and gold paint on tea-stained wasli paper
Collection of Susan and Lew Manilow
© Shahzia Sikander. Courtesy: the artist, Sean Kelly, New York and Pilar Corrias, London.