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Samta Benhayia’s installation, “Architecture of the Veil,” is a reflection on t

While some artists use paintbrushes to make a masterpiece, Samta Benyahia uses the ambiguities between the seen and the unseen.

On Sunday, the Fowler Museum at UCLA presented “Architecture of the Veil: An Installation by Samta Benyahia,” which serves as the artist’s U.S. debut. It will be open through Sept. 2.

This site-specific installation is based on Arabo-Andalusian wooden grillwork known as moucharabieh.

“It was a kind of grillwork that was very common in North African architecture in the past,” said Polly Nooter Roberts, chief curator at the Fowler Museum. “It had the shape of rosettes and it was used as a kind of barrier to separate men’s and women’s faces in ancient Algeria.”

The moucharabieh had the effect of letting light, air and sound through. But, as male passersby could not see in, the women on the inside could see out. It served as a conceptual boundary between the two gender’s domains during the early 20th century, when women were isolated from the public.

But Benyahia, who was born in Constantine, Algeria, and studied at Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs in Paris, has modernized the wooden moucharabieh motif using printed rosettes on an electrostatic film that covers all the first-story windows of the museum. The design on the film was specifically chosen by Benyahia to represent the women of her country.

“The reason why I picked this design of the rosette is because it is the design of Fatima,” Benyahia said. “The Arabo-Andalusian culture aspect is very important, and as a woman I have selected this particular design to represent all women in the Arab world.”

Not only does the installation include the moucharabieh, but there are also eight large-scale black and white photographs of early 20th-century Algerian women, including her mother, aunt and herself, whose intense gazes represent the vivacious spirits of the generation.

Also included are embroidered tulle veils that will be hung from the ceiling to reflect the sunlight that Benyahia uses as inspiration.

“We will have veils attached to the wall and flowing from the ceiling,” said Gassia Armenian, curatorial and research assistant at the Fowler Museum. “It will fall on the photographs of the ladies, and in the sunlight you can see the different reflections of the rosettes.”

While visitors observe the work displayed, recordings of women reciting poetry and songs in French and Arabic play continuously in the background, lending another element to enhance the viewer’s experience of the lives of Algerian women during the early part of the century.

“You will hear the (recited poetry and songs) continuously in the space,” Roberts said. “It will add another audible dimension which is really important.”

This auditory supplement reflects the environment in which Benyahia grew up, and she feels that it is very important for visitors to recognize that behind the grillwork, these women experienced joy in each other’s company.

“I have the music and sound of poetry and fables because this is how I grew up in the house behind the grillwork in our private area,” Benyahia said. “We had the laughter and the stories and the songs and all the fun you can imagine.”

The message that Benyahia is trying to convey through her installation is not only about the old practices in Algeria, but, more importantly, the transparent partitions that separated the men’s public space from the women’s domestic domain. From the outside, it appeared that the shadowy figures behind the moucharabieh lived a hard life of restriction under male rule. But despite what the public saw, on the inside, the women held much hope and pride.

“The women of my mother’s generation, physically, had many restrictions. However, mentally, they had freedom and they strived to work more, have liberal ideas, more education ... and more self-improvement,” Benyahia said. “Women of that generation knew they had a very hard life and would try everything to try and improve their everyday life.”

The concept of what is seen and what is not seen holds much significance for Benyahia. Creating this idea of what the public sees and what really goes on behind closed doors – or wooden rosettes – shows the historical values that were once tightly held. It also shows the strong spirit of the women who lived through these hardships.

“Creating this exhibition in different places is my way of paying my respects to the generation of my mother and my aunt, who, through all kinds of sacrifices, raised us,” Benyahia said. “They didn’t have the chance during the colonial period of Algeria to go to school – they were homebound – but they had open minds and hope that their girls would advance and go out into the world.”