About the
installation
The
installation "Reframing" includes a photo booth similar to the ones
where people take a picture for identity cards and passports. A video projector
shows a demonstration of veiled women in Iran and a sign invites the viewer
to sit on the chair while watching the video clip. A camera takes a picture of
the viewer and, which is processed through a computer program, adding a veil to
cover the hair in the portrait. A printer next to the chair prints out the
altered image for the visitor to take home.
The
installation "Reframing" raises a variety of questions about women's
issues, responding to the political events and social realities in Iran. It raises
questions about the implication of notion of identity within the complex
reality of exile, immigration, political boundaries and conflicting cultural
worlds. It opens a debate about issues of control and power exerted upon female
sexuality. It raises questions about the constraining force of taboo that
results from convention or tradition. The installation makes the visitor
experience the shock of their new constructed identity that is trapped and
reframed in the picture.