Size: 76x 120 x 3cm

This work comments on feelings anxiety and fear currently in western society. A sinister figure clad in a fetish burka takes centre stage. The figure represents the archetypal all consuming feminine mother in islamic form. The painting is making a critique of the utility of the spread of islam into western culture. This painting is not seeking to criticise muslims, it is however commenting on the religious ideology they follow. Islamic veiling is a form of sexist patriarchal oppression, and supporters of equality have a responsibility to say so. It’s time for feminists (male or female) to bring some clarity to the debate about the burqa. The discussion at the moment is dominated by two arguments that defend the burqa from criticism, both coming mainly from female Muslim academics who work and publish from comfortable posts in prominent universities in the United States or Europe, who do not live under the constraints of Sharia law.

Space its self seems to be torn apart and the place is entirely surrounded by gnarled tree roots commenting on the complicated structure of consciousness. Two ravens circle the figure dressed in a fetish burka shawl jacket. The central figure's identity is deliberately ambiguous commenting on perceived notions of "others" or "outsiders" in society. This work is a response to sub cultures and identity politics. At the time of its making Alexander was exploring these subcultures and such works resulted from these interactions and experiences. Cryptozoological creatures stand in as mythological allegory for the state of gender or perhaps species fluidity. Appearing sinister brush marks of raven forms morph around sexually ambiguous human forms. This could be a disguise or fantasy, there is deliberate ambiguity as to wether the figure is feeding on its prey about to devoured by it.