West by East

It's rare for me to combine my interests of visual arts and politics but I was given this opportunity when visiting the West by East exhibit and it's sister exhibit Landscape, Revolution, People at Queen Gallery. Both exhibits look at life in Iran through artists of Iranian descent. The gallery owner graciously gave some background to life in Iran. The picture above by Shadi Ghadirian looks at how the authorities censor magazine images in Iran by applying black marker to any exposed body parts. Ghadrian uses this form of censorship with models in a variety of poses with black marker applied over their arms and legs. The use of the black marker illustrates the Iranian authorities oblitering the identities of the women. They wear typical western clothes but much of their image is redacted from the viewer.The individuality of the women is disfigured by a black marker.

In another series of pictures, Be Colourful, the artist obscures the images of the female models. In the group of four images, each woman is dressed in colourful chadors and their image is obscured by a screen scrapped with dirt. These photographs also show that the Iranian government tries to hide the individuality and personality of women in a drab shell.

The exhibit continued across the street with the unique series of images by artist Gohar Dashti entitled Me, She and the Others. The piece features twenty women each with three images that show each woman with her indoor, working and casual wear. The images are unique in the sense that the women in their indoor clothes mostly reflected a western style of dress while the clothes that they wore outside hid and shrouded their personalities in tombs of black. A Christian woman had the unique images of western-style work and home clothes but a Chador for running errands around town. The gallery owner explained that the woman must live in a separate community where she could wear those types of clothing.

Artist Aydin Matlabi gives the viewer more scenes of Iraninan life with Landscape, Revolution, People #5. The large 30 x30 inch photo looks like you typical portrait. But looking closer, the young woman's piercing blue eyes are framed by plucked and arched eye brows. The hijab around her head allows for a peek of gelled and teased hair. The enforced dress code of the Iranian government can't hide the beauty and style of this woman.

These photographs give the viewer a taste of Iranian life through the eyes of the women. The Iranian government seeks to suppress their individuality and these women in subtle ways try to push back against it.