11 - Performing Visual Strategies: Representational Concepts of Female Iranian Identity in Contemporary Photography and Video Art

Summary

Iran's internal dispute with national identity found a new culminating point in the course of the Green Movement after the 2009 Iranian presidential elections. Supporting the campaigns of Mir Hossein Mousavi (b. 1942) and protesting against a renewed presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (elected 2005-present), a younger generation of Iranians spread these contested election results to the countries of the global Iranian Diaspora. This political struggle for a redefinition of national identity chiefly aimed at, among other things, reforms of the existing constitution of the Islamic republic Iran. It is interesting to observe how these controversies over “Iranian” identity in a transnational context and in light of the age of globalization find their special and multifaceted expressions in the visual arts. Since the last decade, and especially after September 11, 2001, a remarkable shift of global interest in emerging contemporary Iranian art on the international art scene and art market has been noticeable.

During his state of Union address in 2002, former United states president George W. Bush (contestingly elected 2000–2008) labeled Iran, Iraq and north Korea as the “axis of evil,” accusing these governments of supporting terrorism, as well as seeking weapons of mass destruction. Soon thereafter, Iran became the focus of renewed international attention and criticism since the Iranian revolution (1978–79) and the Iran-Iraq War (1980–88). In dealing with ostensible political, religious and social factors of Islam during the period after 9/11, an intensified awareness was also given to the respective countries' specific art scenes, especially the Iranian.