Wonder and anguish

Art: Taj al-Saltana genuine voice for women's social grievances

by Niki Koohpaima
02-Dec-2008
 
The life of Taj al-Saltana, daughter of the ruler of Iran, Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, epitomized the predicaments of her changing era. Overcoming her limited education within the harem walls, Taj chronicled a thirty-year span in the life of a generation that witnessed a shift from traditional order to revolutionary flux. It is as though she had chosen this moment to recall her personal history --a tale filled with "wonder and anguish" --in order to record a cultural and political leap, symbolic of her time, from the indulgent, sheltered, and often petty world of her father's harem to the puzzling and exposed, yet emotionally and intellectually challenging world of a new Iran.

Now almost one hundred years later Taj's memoirs are relevant and qualify her not only as a feminist by her society's standards but also in comparison with feminists of her generation in Europe and America. Beyond her fascination for the material glamors of the West at the turn of the twentieth century--fashion, architecture, furniture, the motorcar--she was also influenced by Western culture's painting, music, history, literature and language. And yet throughout this time she kept her bond with her own literary and cultural heritage and what she calls her "Persianness."

Despite her troubled life of agony--an unloving and harsh mother; a benevolent but self-indulgent father; an adolescent, bisexual husband; separation from her children; financial difficulties; the stigma of leading a libertine lifestyle and the infamy of removing her veil -- Taj's is a genuine voice for women's social grievances in late 20th-century Iran, and one that reveals a remarkable woman in her own right.
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Balatarin
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Thanks ramin. a lot of my

by niki koohpaima (not verified) on Fri Dec 05, 2008 07:32 AM PST

Thanks ramin.
a lot of my inspirations comes from iranian history and art and i have drawn references from history many times before .after reading taj-al-saltana's bio i decided to pay homage to her .when i did this shoot i was thinking iranian miniature and the tiles of golestan palace which have faces of a girl on them looking very similar to my photographs .


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ramintork

I like the art work

by ramintork on Fri Dec 05, 2008 04:01 AM PST

Dear Niki,

The work you have done with recreating images of Taj-al-saltana reminds of the work of Cindy Sherman in that a character is brought alive or should I say put in focus by reenactment of the artist.

Did you have a similar idea as her but within an Iranian context?

 


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AH Danesh, they looked like

by shadi (not verified) on Thu Dec 04, 2008 10:04 AM PST

AH Danesh, they looked like they have been photoshoped, so she is trying to make art dear, not money. Pipe down!


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Anybody Is a King now These Days ...ALA you have paid your taxes

by AH Danesh (not verified) on Thu Dec 04, 2008 06:42 AM PST

----------------covered up!------------------

With the global financial melt down that has begun since the great depression that was covered up like iceburg by the so called "Keysian" internvensionism in day light for the folls anything is up for grab for deal and wheel now.

Postal services are no exception! You got money? Now you got postal stamp after your own image or loved one in a minute to be used around the globe!

No name!
No accomplishment!
Nothing at all!
No Shmae!

But hard cold cash get your stamp in circulation!

Fake? It is an absolet term now in the age of global finacial meltdown!

Just give me the money!


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persian miniature

by shouka (not verified) on Wed Dec 03, 2008 09:40 PM PST

stunning photographs
she remindes me of khorshid khanom ,just like the miniature postcards that u buy in tehran.
good job gf


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What's the deal with the fake postage stamps?

by farrad02 on Wed Dec 03, 2008 06:15 PM PST

I'm sorry, can somene tell me what is the connection of the fake U.S. postage stamps with the topic of this article. Why stamps? and why U.S. postage stamps? Did I miss something?

 


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a dark period ...

by iri (not verified) on Wed Dec 03, 2008 08:51 AM PST

... in the Nation's' history ... a black chapter in the Iranians' life ... and a cadre of currport traitors having nothing to do w/ the true spirit of the pure Aryan race ... May the eternal light shine upon Cyrus the Great, Nader Shah the Great and Reza Shah the Great.


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Darius Kadivar

A Qajar Betty Page Princess ;0)

by Darius Kadivar on Tue Dec 02, 2008 04:01 PM PST

Nice Tribute, your model looks very much like Betty Page by the way ;0)

She was a famous Pin Up girl in the 1950's

More here

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzNW7IBXL_A

 


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