'It has so much baggage': Hijab scrutinized in art installation at SkyTrain station

The next time you're on the SkyTrainand pull up to the Stadium-Chinatown station, look up.

There's aneye-catching photo installation along the platform, featuring shotsof the same woman wearing layers ofhijabs, a headscarf worn by some Muslim women.

In each photo, the woman adds a new colourful hijab. Her expression is blank and there's a sense of absurdity as her head becomes ensconced in fabric.

"The main focus is in the eyes," saidDurrahAlsaif, the artist behind the installation. Alsaifused her own image in the photos.

"If a woman wants to wear one scarf, she can wear one scarf. If she wants to wear 50 of them, that's OK."

Hijab can be'fashionable'

The installation is called 'Qimash,' the Arabic word for fabric, and will be up for a year as part of the Capture Photography Festival.

Alsaif who grew up in Saudi Arabia and moved to Canada in 2008 started the project as a public performancebefore turning it into a video piece.

• Vancouver woman says hijab invites racial abuse, harassment

In herlatest iteration, Alsaif presents a series of photos in which herhead scarves multiply.

Thataccumulation illustrates the symbolic weight of the hijab. Thevibrant colours and patternsare meant to subvert sombre depictions of black hijab, Alsaifsaid.

"It can be colourful. It can be fashionable. There's nothing wrong with that," she said.

'It has so much baggage'

Alsaif wasn't a wearing a hijabwhile chatting on the platform.

When she does wear one, the hijab becomes more than just fabric, she said. It's tied to her identity and how people perceive her faith and culture.

The hijab has been a political flash point in Quebec, where a judge is under investigation after ordering a woman to remove her hijab in his courtroom.

"It has so much baggage," Alsaif said.

• Women don Muslim headscarves at 'Hijab for a Day' event

No one has recognized Alsaif on the platform so far,although she once observed a pair of women studying the photos as she sat next to them.

"I want peopleto understand itssignificance to every woman who wears it," she said.

"You shouldn't treat women who wear it differently."

With files from CBC's Caroline Chan