Ariana Kalili
Khake Iran, 2020
Ceramics
14 x 14 x 4 inches
My work is inspired by the protest of Middle Eastern women against countries that do not guarantee equal rights on the basis of gender. As a result, women in the Middle East have long held demonstrations, protesting their governments’ sexist policies. One example is the women of Iran ripping off their Hijabs in public, as before the 1979 revolution they did not need to, nor did they commonly choose to, wear headscarves. I used these protests as the primary inspiration for this piece. As a woman of Iranian descent, I have heard the stories of that time when women could work and study alongside their male peers.
Now, with this loss of status, it seems Iranian women are viewed as objects, simply there to be observed. They are treated like flowers, a common comparison made in Persian poetry, delicate and beautiful. Any dissent is stopped by crushing them and burying them away from society to dissuade others from following in their footsteps. The woman depicted in this piece is a lioness, another common image in Perian poetry. She is grounded within the soil, broken, but waiting to sprout again like a beautiful wildflower. Her spirit and her fight still prevail, but she has been buried so deep that she can not physically fight back. However, her unwavering strength incites those around her to join her cause.
