THE REBELS OF SOHEILA SOKHANVARI
The Iranian painter celebrates the feminist icons of pre-revolutionary Iran in the exhibition "Rebel Rebel" at the Barbican Centre art gallery in London.
While thousands of protesters continue to Uniting for freedom and women's rights after the death in Tehran of Mahsa (Zhina) Amini, a 22-year-old Kurdish woman arrested by the "morality police", Soheila Sokhanvari invites us to returning to Iran between 1925 and the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The exhibition "Rebel Rebel" at the Barbican art gallery presents a series of 28 portraits of feminist icons of the pre-revolutionary era. The title takes its name from the eponymous David Bowie song, released in 1974. The Iranian artist, born in Shiraz, lives and works in Cambridge, England, after her family had to emigrate when she was a child. Her multidisciplinary work, imbued with symbolism, has since addressed the pervasive influence of Western culture in the Middle East, weaving layers of political history, enriched by mysterious, humorous, and colorful narratives. The small canvases on display are painted in tempera with egg yolk on vellum paper, a technique long reserved for icon painters. All of them thus come to life in a immersive spacecovered with geometric Persian patterns, derived from traditional oriental design.
Resistance to oppression
Soheila Sokhanvari brilliantly A tribute to the courage of these womenForced to renounce any role in public life or condemned to exile, these cultural figures lived and worked in a liberal country before everything was taken from them after the 1979 revolution under Ayatollah Khomeini. Among others, we discover three major names in Iranian cinema: Faranak Mirghahari pointing a revolver, Kobra Saeedi smoking a cigarette, and Roohangiz Saminejad, considered the first actress to appear unveiled in a Persian-language film. Further on, we find the controversial modernist poet Forough Farrokhzad and the leading intellectual and writer Simin Daneshvar. Each painting is a collision between Western fashion, 1970s interior design, and the country's traditional aesthetic.Furthermore, a soundtrack, featuring old local songs, including those of Ramesh and Googoosh, provides a rhythm to the visit. This deliberate choice serves as a reminder that it remains illegal to broadcast a woman's voice in Iran. The exhibition concludes with mirrored sculptures that project classic Iranian films. Soheila Sokhanvari's vibrant and subversive portraits thus express their strength, challenging violent legacies while exploring the contradictions of Iranian women's lives.
“Rebel Rebel” – The Curve Space, Barbican Art Gallery
Silk Street, London
from October 7, 2022 to February 26, 2023
