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How did Shirin Neshat's Turbulent contribute to gender conversations…
How did Shirin Neshat's Turbulent contribute to gender conversations in Iran?
breakdown of the artwork
analysis
gender duality-- how the two characters in the video create a powerful musical metaphor for the inherent in
gender roles, cultural power, and injustices in Iran.
in black and white to emphasise on
without any promise of resolution and synthesis
showing the country’s wealth of
male-female contrasts
, as it is suggested through the body language of the performers, setting, camera work, and the music itself.
suggestive of a romantic duet, telling of the natural connection between men and women, the yin and yang that
in spite of the restrictions imposed by societal and religious codes, come together to form a whole
contrast between the two genders
male representation
male performer’s
evocative lyrics
and the
traditional
melodies approved of, tied to language. He exercises the present tense by reiterating the conventions of the past.
stood in front of an all male audience, dressed up similar to them. indicating that he was
representing the group
portrays male freedom
and how regardless of the setbacks he faces, the man will always be in a more advantageous position over the woman
female representation
The woman's song is unidentifiable, universal. She lives the
present tense
through the timelessness of the primitive and the spiritual. through her
completely non-concrete sound poem.
represents the
voice of other women who are victims of gender inequality
. As the female performer breaks into his silent music at the end of the male performance, it shows a possibility of
liberation
.
music and her presence in this room represent something
rebellious
. This is indicative of how I feel about women in Iran. I think that they are so far against the wall, but they are far more resilient and protesting, and they are much more of a fighter than the men because they have much more at stake.
reasonings behind the lyrics
as there was no actual words in her piece, there was no room for misinterpretation. what the viewers experience is the
universal dimension or the communicative power of music as a language with the capabilities to travel across time and place.
her wailing and throbbing utterances hit the audience on a primal level that arouses the transformative powers of shamanic rituals equally marginalized practices. This effect, subsequently, makes the viewers oversensitive to the tone of the whole performance. It is like a sorrowful cry for an unrecoverable loss.
Under the Islamic law, a woman's value is half that of a man."
message about iran she was trying to convey
gender roles which confine the creative energy of women singers exist because Iran is a nation in which there is no division between state and church
recent historical development is a direct response of the country to its discontinuous history and the heavy influence of western imperialism
The interactions of East and West have created the present states of many countries. The contact has initiated globalization that will inevitably continue with mixed blessings.
she made it so that it was impossible to watch both sides at the same time, forcing the viewer to make a choice which side they would choose as they enter the room
inspiration for turbulent
inspired by a young blind girl she encountered on a visit to Istanbul
Her penetrating voice as she performed with closed eyes, without a formal stage or audience, reminded me of the
predicament and isolation of female singers in Iran
situation in iran
Khomeini developed a Constitution and laws based on the teachings of the Koran and Islam. This body of law imposes the hejab, which requires all women to cover their hair with a scarf and wear a neck-to-ankle robe. "As guardians of a revolution
These strict Islamic laws adopted by the government have substantially effected Iranian women's basic human rights
Under Islamic law, a woman is treated as half of a man
Although equality exists theoretically, in reality, women in Iran continue to suffer discrimination
According to Shi'ite Muslim laws, women are not allowed to sing in public. This tradition, ironically, ran parallel with the European colonial presence in the region.
interpretation
association with the gender separation that is synonymous with Iranian society.
global turbulence of the modern day.
fight against inequality, the battle for label-free identities, and the fight against right-wing populism is the hallmark of contemporary society
erratic movement of the camera brings the viewers closer but yet distances them at the same time. this shows the gulf between the local and the global
Being local is often denoted as being backward and in need of intervention or help, while global connotes modernity and cosmopolitanism, thus broad-minded and more desirable. By being local and global simultaneously, Turbulent dismisses such naive oppositional categories
about the artist
a contemporary Iranian visual artist best known for her work in photography, video, and film
hopes the viewers of her work “take away with them not some heavy political statement, but something that really touches them on the most emotional level.”
focusing around themes of gender, identity, and society. examining the physical, emotional, and cultural implications of veiled women in Iran
Women of Allah series, created in the mid-1990s, introduced themes of the discrepancies of public and private identities in both Iranian and Western cultures.
individual freedoms under attack from or repressed by social ideologies
makes art through her identities as an Iranian and as a woman, but reshapes them to speak to larger issues of freedom, individuality, societal oppression, the pain of exile, and the power of the erotic.
Her work has increasingly reflected her desire to come to terms with the "new" Iran, to understand ideas behind Islamic ideology, and to reconnect with her own past.