Culture Framed

Iranian Art Exhibit Aims to Defy Stereotypes

By Willona Sloan

Nikoo Paydar and Narges Bajoghli had a vision—one that President Bush inspired. Amid the war on terror and Bush’s condemnation of Iran as part of the “Axis of Evil,” Paydar and Bajoghli decided it was time to frame Iranian culture in a new way.

“The idea came together about two and a half years ago, when we started hearing a lot of noise about a potential war in Iran. We realized that this sort of thing can happen in any part of the world when a society becomes dehumanized and is portrayed in such a way that people think that society doesn’t have people with real feelings,” Bajoghli said.

Feeling a deep sense of frustration with all of the loaded political rhetoric and the swirling misconceptions about Iranian society, Bajoghli and Paydar, the 24-year-old co-founders of the non-profit organization, Iranian Alliances Across Borders (IAAB), put their heads together to create their own outreach effort that would both inform people about Iranian culture and provide a window into its vibrant and energetic arts scene.

For Paydar and Bajoghli, the contemporary art exhibition TRANSFORM/NATION is more than just an excellent show of contemporary art. It is a labor of deep love and the culmination of almost three years of planning and tiptoeing around political landmines.

“We wanted to create an exhibition that is true to ourselves and how we feel about the community,” Paydar said.

TRANSFORM/NATION is an ambitious project that includes a show at Arlington’s Ellipse Arts Center and a simultaneous exhibition in Tehran, Iran, at the Nikzad Gallery, owned by Yasaman Nikzad Rad.

After creating a list of their favorite artists working in Iran as well as members of the Iranian diaspora, or migration, living in the United States and Europe, Paydar and Bajoghli put out an open call for submissions. The two joined forces with Leyla Pope, of Reston, and Maryam Ovissi, who is based in Geneva, Switzerland, as well as Nikzad, to form a powerhouse curatorial team.

The group of women, who have collectively put on numerous exhibitions throughout the world, assembled a short list of emerging and established artists who were most innovatively working through the exhibitions’ themes: “stereotypes, identity and tradition.”

Opening this month, the fruits of their labor will finally be realized. TRANSFORM/NATION is a cutting-edge multi-media show featuring paintings, drawings, installations, film and photography by 14 talented artists including Samira Abbassy (U.S.), Haleh Anvari (Iran), Kaya Behkalam (Germany), Afarin Rahmanifar (U.S.) and Samira Yamin (U.S.).

True to their mission, TRANSFORM/NATION highlights the exciting and razor sharp contemporary arts scene of Iran. The curators are proud to bring this show to the capital area to enlighten diverse audiences of a cultural movement of which they may have not have been previously exposed. The country, particularly in Tehran, is enmeshed in an energetic movement, in which artists are fusing different styles and techniques in the areas of visual art, film and music to create a uniquely Iranian approach.

Through the creation of expressive painting techniques that blend traditional symbols and themes from Iranian culture and images from the Iranian and international media, to photography that challenges traditional ways of reading Iranian culture, artists are stirring up conversation and developing new ways of thinking about contemporary Iranian society. Not only is this exhibition an eye-opening cultural experience, it is also an opportunity to see some really great art.

TRANSFORM/NATION’s curators sought artists who actively reject the predominant western media images that present Iranians as “terrorists,” for example, or Iranian women as cloistered creatures. The exhibition seeks to exemplify the many interesting ways in which artists are actually transforming the ways that their country is being seen by foreign onlookers––artists who have said “enough” to images and stereotypes that pigeonhole Iranians as a monolith, rather than an eclectic array of individuals.

“One of the reasons we decided to call the exhibition ‘TRANSFORM/NATION’ is because these [artists] are taking part in transforming the ways that their country is represented and that their lives are represented,” Bajoghli said.

New Views
Artists such as filmmaker Behkalam show new ways of viewing Iran. In his film, “Tehran Reflections,” he explores his own relationship to the country as he wanders the streets of the capital city, capturing public spaces. The work recasts murals of martyrs and religious leaders painted on walls throughout the city, showing them as reflected images bouncing off sunglasses, windows and windshields. His work is a study in myth-making as well as demystification, as he recontextualizes these powerful, and even sacred, images. The viewer must form his/her own understanding of the individual scenes.

Photographer Anvari counters media images of Middle Eastern women in black chadors (the long traditional veil), wielding heavy artillery and shouting anti-Western slogans with her “Chadornama” series. She captures her models from behind as they traverse rural landscapes, gaze at the Eiffel Tower and wait at the bus stop in colorful, festive chadors in Iran, Paris, Dubai and other locations. Anvari challenges stereotypes associated with this traditional dress in ways that are both amusing and deeply stirring. While seemingly lighthearted, Anvari’s work challenges viewers to question their own perceptions about women in veils.

The theme of identity is closely felt by the show’s curators and is the most overtly addressed by the participating artists, especially those living abroad, who often grapple with the complexities of creating a cohesive cultural identity. Iranian-American curator Paydar said that the artists, as well as many people of Iranian descent living in other countries, often feel the tug of reconciling Iranian cultural practices, family ideals, religion and other beliefs with the norms of the country in which they live.

“Sometimes where you reside isn’t actually where you identify,” said Paydar. “It can be very complicated. It varies for each of these artists. They all identify as Iranians, but the way they connect to that identity and how they relate to their home country and their host country can vary quite a bit.”

“I think visual art is a great way to show that hybridity, or that duality, of identity,” continued Paydar. “It can be really complicated and frustrating having to deal with a heritage of both the U.S. and Iran, especially when they have such a complicated relationship, on a political level and other levels. A lot of these artists seem to be dealing with this and expressing it through their work.”

Feminine and Cultural Identity
Painter Rahmanifar plays with the notion of “hybridity” in her beautiful works. Her magnificent paintings depict the artist’s continuous struggle to define her place as an Iranian woman in American society, as she attempts to connect the often conflicting social norms and ideals of beauty and femininity.

In an artist’s statement, Rahmanifar wrote: “My [work] is a personal examination of the effects of ‘American’ culture on my identity as a woman raised in Iran. The work expresses my need to reconcile these two cultures, which reflect both my past and present. … My motivation for creating these hybrid personalities relates to how I project myself in American society.”

Rahmanifar’s work is critical of American consumerist culture while also betraying sentimentality for the national idolatry of Barbie and Marilyn Monroe. She mixes these images with traditional Asian depictions of femininity, of which she is equally critical, creating a mishmash of cultural references. In “Recess of Journey, Part One, #3,” three female figures struggle unsuccessfully to form a unified woman in a beautiful painting layered with bright blocks of color, newspaper clippings and Arabic script.

Through her distinctive painting style, Abbassy also ponders conventional ideas about femininity. Her crudely constructed females confront the viewer, often with genitals or breasts exposed boldly. Abbassy integrates imagery that is not easily deciphered as she blends symbols from Persian iconography with fantastic, dreamlike scenes.

Abbassy’s painting “Exiled Garden” is captivating in its use of bizarre metaphor and bold color. A woman constructed as a feathery peacock (ironically, a male bird) displays her elaborate tail formed by layers of veiled women whose blurred features are offset by their penetrating gazes. The “peacock” smiles as slightly as Mona Lisa, as she fans her elaborate tail against a luscious, deep blue backdrop.

What does it all mean?
Artist Yamin, who embroiders traditional eastern designs onto scarves by Christian Dior and other designers, plays on the exhibition theme of tradition by examining conventional perceptions of eastern culture. On these delicate, fragile objects, Yamin silk screens traumatic war photography from Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine as a complex protest against traditional Western ways of viewing life in the Middle East, with images that the artist terms “inauthentic, exploitative and Orientalist.”

The TRANSFORM/NATION exhibition in Tehran, while addressing the same themes, also confronts the perceptions Iranians may have of their peers living abroad. Life here can be hard. America is a nation with its own political, economic and cultural issues, despite executive-level finger-pointing, this nation has its own challenges. And despite misconceptions that the majority of Iranians are anti-United States, Iranians often know only of the “land of opportunities” and miss some of the more difficult realities of everyday life. This exhibition is a chance for diaspora artists to challenge the perceptions of the brethren.

Breaking Barriers
The ambitious project has certainly had its share of hurdles, with the largest being the U.S. economic sanctions against Iran. Organizers worried that they would face barriers bringing the art to Arlington––they were relieved to learn from the U.S. Department of Treasury just three months before opening that the restrictions are not applied to modern art. In Iran, American organizers had to rely on the Nikzad Gallery to handle logistics, as well as any funding issues, as the sanctions also restrict the provision of services and financing within Iran. Despite any obstacles and intrusive politics, this is a show that is not to be missed.
TRANSFORM/NATION, which is part of the ongoing “Planet Arlington” series of cultural events, seeks to connect audiences through the website and provide a bridge between the two exhibitions, linking audiences in Arlington and Tehran. Visitors can view the works of both shows online and post messages to the blog in an ongoing attempt to develop deeper understandings between the people of both nations.

“The exhibition in Iran challenges Iranians to think about the diaspora experience. Many people have visited their families who live abroad or have traveled abroad, but you never really get to the point in these family gatherings where you talk about the experiences that you have to deal with in the daily life. And, as far as we know, that sort of exhibition hasn’t happened in Iran,” Bajoghli said.

“This is one of the first exhibitions that will bring diaspora art and art from the country side-by-side and have them interplay and challenge each other.”

(June/July 2007)

Tags: art, Entertainment Features, exhibit, gallery, Iranian art