In This Cul-de-Sac

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This project refers to Iranian women and how religion controls their life. It explores the complexities of women's identities in the Islamic world, where women don't have equal rights as men. 

In this project, The materials and geometric shapes reference systems of societal control. I chose concrete and metal to represent materials used in the construction of buildings and associated with masculinity. The grid is a rational system, but in my case, I like to push it to such an extreme that it is more about a caged experience imposed by a higher power to contain people into containable units. 

It deals specifically with the body, the body as a subject, and the body as part of the material. It brings out a kind of taboo that is associated with women's bodies, like the vagina. The plants that grow inside concrete boxes symbolize women who defied society's rules to pursue their passion and contribute their vision to the patriarchal system.

 

In This Cul-de-Sac

by Ahmad Shamlu

 

To make sure

You have not said:

"I love you,"

They smell your breath.

They even smell your heart

Trying times are these, my darling.

They flog love

Tied to the post of the cul-de-sac

We must hide love in the box.

They feed the fire

With poems and songs

Thinking, too, is risky.