Iranian.com, on March 23rd posted a painting of a women on its first page. This is supposed to be a piece of art announcing Now Rooz. Every time I see such paintings , I cannot help but recalling the word ” gardan shekasteh”, an expression used to refer to someone miserable and innocent in Persian/Farsi.
Rendering women passive and docile by any mean possible is nothing new. Patriarchal systems have done this to no end. Beautifying docile women has preference over portraying women embracing their imperfection of any sort.
In 21st century, we are still looking back, reproducing Qajar art, painting women with connected eyebrows, covered hair in their “latchak” and tilting their head to one side. As if nothing has changed in the past hundred years. We still hang them on our wall and present them to our offspring as “authentic” Persian art! No wonder this cliché, depicting the fantasies of mostly men painters continues form one generation to the next. The question is: doesthis depiction reflect our vision for women’s social place and role at the present time? If so, then please do not utter any word about women rights or women movement!
