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7:00 PM
WOMEN LIFE FREEDOM
Exhibition|Homa Emami, Parastou Forouhar, Samira Hodaei, Simin Keramati, Roshi Rouzbehani, Jinoos Taghizadeh
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Saarländische Galerie – Europäisches Kunstforum, Berlin
The Saarländische Galerie in Berlin is showing works by six artists from Iran: Homa Emami, Parastou Forouhar, Samira Hodaei, Simin Keramati, Roshi Rouzbehani and Jinoos Taghizadeh. The Saarland Museum in Saarbrücken had included the exhibition in its programme as a sign of solidarity with the current Iranian movement Women Life Freedom, in which women are courageously fighting for a self-determined and free life. The exhibition will now be shown in a slightly modified form at the Saarländische Galerie in Berlin.
The violent death of Zhina Mahsa Amini in September 2002 triggered an avalanche of protests in Iran and around the world. The 22-year-old had been arrested by the morality police for not wearing her hair under her hijab as required. While in police custody, Mahsa Amini was mistreated to such an extent that she died a few days later. Since April 2024, the Iranian government has stepped up its violent repression of women. On the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the ‚morality police‘ have stepped up their patrols. Women who refuse to wear headscarves report harassment, assault and arrest.
The exhibition features recent works by international artists from Iran who were forced to leave their homeland for political reasons and now live and work in various countries around the world. The prints, videos, installations and objects were created in response to the current situation and are mostly being shown publicly for the first time.
Homa Emami was born in 1955 in Shahabad Gharb – Islamabad (Iran) and has lived in Germany since 1986. She lives and works in Cologne and Brühl. Her work as a sculptor and painter focuses on the theme of ‚home‘. In the object ‚Armour of Resistance‘, 2023, she works with rings made of cut women’s hair: a perishable, delicate material that has been symbolically charged by the recent protests.
Parastou Forouhar was born in Tehran in 1962 and has lived and worked in Germany since 1991. She was a professor of fine arts at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. Her parents – members of the political opposition – were assassinated in their Tehran home in 1998 on the orders of the secret service. Every year on the anniversary of their deaths, Parastou Forouhar travels to Tehran to organise a memorial event and to call for the investigation of political murders in Iran. The conceptual artist and activist has created a series of new prints for the exhibition. In ‚Papillon Collection II‘, the colourful, ornamental beauty creates a sense of unease and explosiveness. On closer inspection, the seemingly ornamental patterns are transformed into real scenes of oppression, rebellion and vulnerability – a reflection of the precarious and life-threatening situation that women in particular are currently facing under the aggravated conditions in Iran.
Samira Hodaei was born in Tehran in 1981 and lives and works in Berlin. Her work combines everyday objects with painting. The work ‚An Empty Sofreh‘, 2022, was shown for the first time in Saarbrücken. For these ‚empty tablecloths‘, which are reminiscent of the food shortages in her homeland, the artist uses prepared lengths of fabric that have been hand-printed with patterns, but which are discarded if there are any pattern errors. She decorates the rejects with densely packed dots of glass paint.
Simin Keramati was born in Tehran in 1970. She lives and works in Toronto. In her multidisciplinary artistic projects, which include painting, drawing, video and media art, she is particularly concerned with socio-political issues. In Berlin, she presents the video work ‚The edge of the cloud‘ (2018/19). It is a story about war victims and how people around the world react to them on social media. The story is told by a fictional character based on the most liked photo of ‚Aylan Kurdi‘, who drowned at sea while fleeing war in his home country. The photo received the most reactions on social media at the time and was shared thousands of times. The story brings together memories of wars from all times, including some of the artist’s memories of the Iran-Iraq war.
Roshi Rouzbehani was born in Tehran in 1985. She lives and works as a freelance illustratorin London. She works for newspapers (‚The New Yorker‘, ‚The Guardian‘, ‚The WashingtonPost‘, ‚Die Zeit‘) as well as for Amnesty International. She is an illustrator and author of the book ’50 Inspiring Iranian Women‘. Her graphics – portraits and statements – are dedicated to social issues. She is a committed advocate of gender equality. The empowerment of women is at the heart of her work. Her works are composed for clear legibility and recognisability, the flat and colourful design is ornamentally inspired. Central gestures and moments determine her motifs, in which she combines Iranian pictorial tradition and Western poster design.
Jinoos Taghizadeh was born in 1971 in Tehran. She currently lives and works in Canada. A multimedia artist, storyteller and activist, she is a trained sculptor and literary playwright, painter, printmaker, performer and video artist. She is passionate about breaking down the established boundaries of traditional art and challenging art and taking on political issues. Her series of prints play with such stretching of boundaries that they seem surreal. She juxtaposes stranded whales with backdrops of Iranian landmarks. The large sea creatures lie in deserted squares, in front of mosques in Isfahan or the theatre and university in Tehran.
Dr Maryam Palizban is a theatre scholar, writer, actress and director. Interdisciplinarity in relation to ‚religion and culture‘ is a central element of Palizban’s research. The tensions between ‚religion and art‘, ‚cultural theory of modern Islam‘ and ‚performativity and textuality‘ are among the major themes of her multilingual publications, lectures and teaching activities. In her native Iran, she is known as an actress in films such as Deep Breath, Fat Shaker and LANTOURI, and as a poet. Maryam Palizban has lived in Berlin since 2005 and works as a researcher and artist in Berlin and (until recently) in Tehran. She has organised interdisciplinary colloquium series on ‚Body and Corporeality‘ and ‚Woman, Body and Revolution‘, presenting the Centre for Islamic Theology in Münster as an innovative space for discussion. Her most recent publication, ‚Understanding and Forgetting the Body – Interdisciplinary Approaches‘, takes an interdisciplinary approach to the question of human corporeality. In 2023, she participated in the protests of the Jina Revolution by publishing an image without a headscarf and has since been involved in various oppositional feminist networks.
Exhibition in cooperation with the Saarlandmuseum, Saarbrücken. The exhibition is supported by the Goethe-Institut in Exile and the Schloss Wiepersdorf Foundation.
The violent death of Zhina Mahsa Amini in September 2002 triggered an avalanche of protests in Iran and around the world. The 22-year-old had been arrested by the morality police for not wearing her hair under her hijab as required. While in police custody, Mahsa Amini was mistreated to such an extent that she died a few days later. Since April 2024, the Iranian government has stepped up its violent repression of women. On the orders of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the ‚morality police‘ have stepped up their patrols. Women who refuse to wear headscarves report harassment, assault and arrest.
The exhibition features recent works by international artists from Iran who were forced to leave their homeland for political reasons and now live and work in various countries around the world. The prints, videos, installations and objects were created in response to the current situation and are mostly being shown publicly for the first time.
Accomanying programme
14. June 2024, 7PM: Opening with Performance by Homa Emami
13. July 2024, 6PM: Maryam Palizban reads ‘Stolen Love Letters’ and her own poems from ‘The Orphaned Gaps’ and excerpts from the ‘Revolution Diary’ by Jinoos Taghizadeh.
Artists
Homa Emami was born in 1955 in Shahabad Gharb – Islamabad (Iran) and has lived in Germany since 1986. She lives and works in Cologne and Brühl. Her work as a sculptor and painter focuses on the theme of ‚home‘. In the object ‚Armour of Resistance‘, 2023, she works with rings made of cut women’s hair: a perishable, delicate material that has been symbolically charged by the recent protests.
Parastou Forouhar was born in Tehran in 1962 and has lived and worked in Germany since 1991. She was a professor of fine arts at the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. Her parents – members of the political opposition – were assassinated in their Tehran home in 1998 on the orders of the secret service. Every year on the anniversary of their deaths, Parastou Forouhar travels to Tehran to organise a memorial event and to call for the investigation of political murders in Iran. The conceptual artist and activist has created a series of new prints for the exhibition. In ‚Papillon Collection II‘, the colourful, ornamental beauty creates a sense of unease and explosiveness. On closer inspection, the seemingly ornamental patterns are transformed into real scenes of oppression, rebellion and vulnerability – a reflection of the precarious and life-threatening situation that women in particular are currently facing under the aggravated conditions in Iran.
Samira Hodaei was born in Tehran in 1981 and lives and works in Berlin. Her work combines everyday objects with painting. The work ‚An Empty Sofreh‘, 2022, was shown for the first time in Saarbrücken. For these ‚empty tablecloths‘, which are reminiscent of the food shortages in her homeland, the artist uses prepared lengths of fabric that have been hand-printed with patterns, but which are discarded if there are any pattern errors. She decorates the rejects with densely packed dots of glass paint.
Simin Keramati was born in Tehran in 1970. She lives and works in Toronto. In her multidisciplinary artistic projects, which include painting, drawing, video and media art, she is particularly concerned with socio-political issues. In Berlin, she presents the video work ‚The edge of the cloud‘ (2018/19). It is a story about war victims and how people around the world react to them on social media. The story is told by a fictional character based on the most liked photo of ‚Aylan Kurdi‘, who drowned at sea while fleeing war in his home country. The photo received the most reactions on social media at the time and was shared thousands of times. The story brings together memories of wars from all times, including some of the artist’s memories of the Iran-Iraq war.
Roshi Rouzbehani was born in Tehran in 1985. She lives and works as a freelance illustratorin London. She works for newspapers (‚The New Yorker‘, ‚The Guardian‘, ‚The WashingtonPost‘, ‚Die Zeit‘) as well as for Amnesty International. She is an illustrator and author of the book ’50 Inspiring Iranian Women‘. Her graphics – portraits and statements – are dedicated to social issues. She is a committed advocate of gender equality. The empowerment of women is at the heart of her work. Her works are composed for clear legibility and recognisability, the flat and colourful design is ornamentally inspired. Central gestures and moments determine her motifs, in which she combines Iranian pictorial tradition and Western poster design.
Jinoos Taghizadeh was born in 1971 in Tehran. She currently lives and works in Canada. A multimedia artist, storyteller and activist, she is a trained sculptor and literary playwright, painter, printmaker, performer and video artist. She is passionate about breaking down the established boundaries of traditional art and challenging art and taking on political issues. Her series of prints play with such stretching of boundaries that they seem surreal. She juxtaposes stranded whales with backdrops of Iranian landmarks. The large sea creatures lie in deserted squares, in front of mosques in Isfahan or the theatre and university in Tehran.
Dr Maryam Palizban is a theatre scholar, writer, actress and director. Interdisciplinarity in relation to ‚religion and culture‘ is a central element of Palizban’s research. The tensions between ‚religion and art‘, ‚cultural theory of modern Islam‘ and ‚performativity and textuality‘ are among the major themes of her multilingual publications, lectures and teaching activities. In her native Iran, she is known as an actress in films such as Deep Breath, Fat Shaker and LANTOURI, and as a poet. Maryam Palizban has lived in Berlin since 2005 and works as a researcher and artist in Berlin and (until recently) in Tehran. She has organised interdisciplinary colloquium series on ‚Body and Corporeality‘ and ‚Woman, Body and Revolution‘, presenting the Centre for Islamic Theology in Münster as an innovative space for discussion. Her most recent publication, ‚Understanding and Forgetting the Body – Interdisciplinary Approaches‘, takes an interdisciplinary approach to the question of human corporeality. In 2023, she participated in the protests of the Jina Revolution by publishing an image without a headscarf and has since been involved in various oppositional feminist networks.
Exhibition in cooperation with the Saarlandmuseum, Saarbrücken. The exhibition is supported by the Goethe-Institut in Exile and the Schloss Wiepersdorf Foundation.
Location
Saarländische Galerie – Europäisches Kunstforum
Charlottenstraße 3
10969 Berlin
Transnational
Charlottenstraße 3
10969 Berlin
Transnational
Location
Saarländische Galerie – Europäisches Kunstforum
Charlottenstraße 3
10969 Berlin
Transnational
Charlottenstraße 3
10969 Berlin
Transnational