This is Not a Scarf Installation was exhibited at the FOFA Gallery during the group exhibition EMBODIED URGENCIES, from January 15 to February 17, 2024.
The installation consists of bronze sculptures, screen-printed scarves, and video documentation of a performance. Inspired by the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in 2022, it addresses the politicization of women’s bodies in Iran. Central to the work is a pair of bronze hands adorned with scarves donated by Iranian women in Montreal. Presented in a manner resembling a scarf store, the installation encourages viewers to reflect on the scarf’s symbolic and functional significance.
This installation draws inspiration from This is Not a Scarf performance, which intervenes in the historical context of Iran’s mandatory veiling laws over the past 45 years. It also parallels the mandatory unveiling laws imposed during Reza Pahlavi’s reign in 1936, both of which compelled women to embody their country’s political ideologies, undermining their agency over personal identity and clothing.
The performance took place on October 30, 2022, in front of the Contemporary Art Museum in Montreal. Elahe Moonesi and I stood on the stairs of Place-des-Arts while hundreds of scarves donated by Iranian women in Montreal were piled at the foot of the stairs with instructions inviting public interaction. Participants were encouraged to use the scarves in any way they chose with the performers. The three-hour performance, documented on video, resonated deeply with Iranian women in the diaspora, many of whom drew on embodied pain and generational experiences to contribute. Their words, inscribed on a long canvas scroll during the event, expressed their emotions and memories. Some of these contributions were later traced and screen-printed onto headscarves displayed in the installation.
The installation’s resemblance to a scarf store raises critical questions about the scarf’s role as an object. In Iran, the scarf is often framed as both a symbol of beauty and a tool to “protect women from the male gaze.” However, upon closer inspection, its disturbing subjectivity comes to the forefront. Cast in the heavy alloy of bronze, the fabric’s imposed function is exposed. Beneath its aesthetic appeal lies a long history of oppression and resistance.
