A British-Iranian artist has captured the strength and bravery of Iranian women throughout the 20th century in an exhibition in London.
Soheila Sokhanvari's exhibition in the Curve Gallery in London’s Barbican presents portraits of women from a pivotal era in Iranian history who played a part in battling oppression.
The exhibition resonates even more due to the current protests in Iran, sparked by the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who has become a symbol of resistance.
Her death while in the custody of the morality police has given rise to widespread protests both inside and outside the country, with many demonstrators putting their lives in danger by dancing in the streets and burning their hijabs.
Sokhanvari's exhibition — which draws its name, Rebel Rebel, from David Bowie's 1974 pop song — examines the contradictions of Iranian women's lives during the period before the shah was overthrown.
While compared to the current regime it may appear to have been liberal, before the revolution, Iran's patriarchal system was still very much present and silenced any oppositional voices.
Nevertheless, there were women who fully embraced modernity and modernism, and Sokhanvari's exhibition focuses on those who tried to escape the captivity of age-old societal roles.
The exhibition features 31 portraits of famous Iranian women, including Faegheh Atashin, known as Googoosh. Each portrait is hung in the middle of hand-painted geometric Islamic murals.
It describes Googoosh as “perhaps the biggest star of 20th-century Iran and a true cultural icon for Iranians everywhere”.
Regarding her career, it says: “Googoosh began performing aged only three, and made her first film at the age of seven, becoming a child star. She continued acting but is best known for her prolific music-making, which took inspiration from western pop, funk and soul.
Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, she released more than 200 songs. She was also beloved for her sense of style, popularising the miniskirt as well as a short haircut that became known as the “Googooshy”.
At the time of the Islamic revolution, she was travelling abroad, but she chose to return to Iran. She was jailed for a short time before being released on the condition that she would no longer sing in public.
“They tried hard to erase me — I mean, erase my name, erase my position, erase my songs, erase my face, erase the memory of me,” she recalled. “But they couldn't.”
Following the revolution, many feminist icons were arrested and forced to renounce all public activities or be exiled.
Rebel Rebel can be viewed at the Curve Gallery in London’s Barbican until February 26.
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Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Where to buy art books in the UAE
There are a number of speciality art bookshops in the UAE.
In Dubai, The Lighthouse at Dubai Design District has a wonderfully curated selection of art and design books. Alserkal Avenue runs a pop-up shop at their A4 space, and host the art-book fair Fully Booked during Art Week in March. The Third Line, also in Alserkal Avenue, has a strong book-publishing arm and sells copies at its gallery. Kinokuniya, at Dubai Mall, has some good offerings within its broad selection, and you never know what you will find at the House of Prose in Jumeirah. Finally, all of Gulf Photo Plus’s photo books are available for sale at their show.
In Abu Dhabi, Louvre Abu Dhabi has a beautiful selection of catalogues and art books, and Magrudy’s – across the Emirates, but particularly at their NYU Abu Dhabi site – has a great selection in art, fiction and cultural theory.
In Sharjah, the Sharjah Art Museum sells catalogues and art books at its museum shop, and the Sharjah Art Foundation has a bookshop that offers reads on art, theory and cultural history.
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