The Disappearance of One’s Own Image: Depiction of Women’s Body in Public & Private Space in Works of Contemporary Iranian Female Artists

Shadi Ghadirian (b.1974), Sepideh Salehi (b.1972), Arghavan Khosravi (b.1984), and Gohar Dashti (b.1980) adopt a hybrid form of art to confront the restrictions imposed on women of their generation. Focusing on motives as the objectification and censorship imposed on women’s public and private image, and lack of ownership over their identities and bodies, their art depicts the decline of women’s rights. Inspired by the events of their lives, the artists not only confront patriarchy but also shed light on the constraints that entangled Iranian women for decades.

As a researcher and artist grown up in Iran, through my interviews, I trace the metamorphosis of the feminine voice and image in modern Iran. I extend Michael Bakhtin’s concept of polyphony or the plurality of contradictory voices, Judith Butler’s views on giving an account to oneself, and Henri Lefebvre's notion of public and private space to analyse the impact of art in retrieving one’s voice versus the socio-cultural Otherness imposed on women.

I argue how the artists depict the collision of restrictions, trauma, and violence through the individualistic and collective lens. Ghadirian chose nostalgia to depict the regression of women’s liberty, while Dashti focuses on the fragmentation in their generation and the disappearance of a safe space. Salehi focuses on the convictions that deprived women of ownership over their bodies, while Khosravi highlights the ramifications of the sociocultural bans through a surreal lens. Each selected collection embodies a new wave of feminist ideologies resonating with the Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran.