Veiled Memories. Contemporary art from Iran is the group exhibition chosen for the 14th edition of the Women’s Biennial, organized by UDI – Union of Women in Italy of Ferrara with the Galleries of Modern and Contemporary Art and the Civic Museums of Ancient Art of the City of Ferrara, scheduled from April 18 to June 13, 2010 at the Pavilion of Contemporary Art.
The exhibition traces the experience of six contemporary Iranian artists who are already internationally established: Shirin Fakhim, Ghazel, Firouzeh Khosrovani, Shadi Ghadirian, Mandana Moghaddam and Parastou Forouhar. Sei donne che oltre ad aver vissuto un tormentato passato, a partire dalla Rivoluzione Islamica del 1979 fino alla guerra Iran-Iraq (1980-1988), testimoniano soprattutto la difficile condizione della donna in uno dei paesi mediorientali più conservatori. Nella cultura iraniana la discriminazione femminile è, infatti, ancora una limitazione quotidiana e anche se tentativi di cambiamento sono stati fatti, la donna iraniana è tuttora collocata ai gradini più bassi della scala sociale, considerata come una cittadina di “seconda classe”.
The common thread of the exhibition is the memories of a past and a present still poised between a desire for modernization and a desire to safeguard Islamic cultural and religious traditions, in a delicate but equally articulate journey seen through the eyes of courageous women, tireless spokeswomen for a reality that wants to be told.
The resulting survey deliberately takes up the experience of women artists who have followed different paths, presenting the reflections of both those who have decided to remain in Iran and those who have already chosen exile for years, in a state of obligatory geographic nomadism that, however, does not forget the strong cultural identity.
The exhibition traces themes such as the social and familial role of women in the Islamic world, the bond with their country and the hope for change toward a more democratic future, all proposed with a wide variety of expressive languages: from video art to installation, from photography to site-specific works created especially for the Biennial, and even documentary film, a genre that is experiencing an important expressive development in Iran.
The Women’s Biennial will then be joined by a series of collateral initiatives closely related to the exhibition’s main theme, such as a film festival, literary presentations and debates.
Edited by.
Silvia Cirelli
Organizers
UDI’s Women’s Biennial Committee (composed of Lola G. Bonora, Silvia Cirelli, Ada Patrizia Fiorillo, Catalina Golban, Elisa Leonini, Anna Quarzi, Ansalda Siroli, Dida Spano, Liviana Zagagnoni) and Galleries of Modern and Contemporary Art and Civic Museums of Ancient Art