ABSTRACT
This chapter discuss the complex construction that defines the parameters by which artists in and of the Arab world are expected to work. It derives the term 'Islamism' in two ways. First, it relates to the assumption that artists 'originating' from a largely Muslim country are expected to produce work that relates to the personal or political traditions of the religion of Islam. Second, it relates to the fact that historically, the visual culture that emanated from most Arab countries was largely affiliated with the traditions, styles, and aesthetics of Islam. Palestinian writer and artist Kamal Boullat notes the dominance of literary culture and the prestige of the sacred texts in the Arab world. Boullata uses 'just to think about the visual arts generally sends me into a panic' statement to draw attention to the common language of aesthetics in the Arabic-speaking world, by asserting that the visual form has always been secondary to the Islamic tradition of 'the word'.
