The Many Faces of Ghazel
By Samine Tabatabaei
The works of Iranian performance artist Ghazel reflect the artist's dry humor. From early in her career, she has insouciantly focused on the depiction of Iranian women both in Iran and abroad—revealing intricacies and tensions within this contested discourse.
Ghazel’s first encounter with happenings and performance art was in post-revolutionary Iran. In the early 1990s, the country was invigorated with “a new form of post-Islamist thinking combined with neoliberal policies,” as sociologist Asef Bayat has pointed out. This, along with the somewhat relaxed cultural policies of the time, inspired cultural centers in various neighborhoods to interact with a range of social and economic classes. While studying at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Nîmes, Ghazel, returning home to Tehran, was flabbergasted by the elitist veneer the art scene had developed during her years abroad. Addressing this disparity among social groups through performance has become one of the hallmarks of Ghazel’s work.
