MAHYA RASTEGAR | BORDER-LESS IDENTITY

MAHYA RASTEGAR | BORDER-LESS IDENTITY

“Social identity determines women’s status in society. In the context of family, religion, economy, patriarchy, misogyny, gender discrimination, etc., determine Iranian women’s status in society.
To keep the concept of a woman’s identity alive, a change in Iranian society is required.”

Delicate bodies and frail organs with great spirits and ambitious dreams are the coordinates of women of the land on which they are still faced with a fundamental question: “Is being a woman an opportunity or a threat?”

Every woman in the world, regardless of her class, race, age, ethnicity, nationality, and religion, has more in common with any other woman than any man. “Misogyny” and “patriarchy” are the major barriers against the development of knowledge and women’s advancement in society.

Woman plays the main role in her complex life story. This complexity begins when every woman faces a break in her life, such as a divorce, which is the beginning of a new life to build, or cancer, making the word “hope” more meaningful in life. A break is actually a beginning, and a woman is a symbol of “germination,” a fundamental growth that is necessary for every society.

According to the social identity, each woman of Iranian society, the context of family, religion, economy, patriarchy, misogyny, gender discrimination, etc. determines the status of women.
A woman is someone who tries with pride, power, and dare to keep all the women of her inside and outside world “alive”.

To keep the concept of a woman’s identity alive, a change in society is required.
This collection represents women in Iran, who are continually trying to make the new transformation to keep women’s identity alive, regardless of gender, along with the environmental and virtual changes of women and the reduction of misogyny attitudes patriarchy in society.

MAHYA RASTEGAR

Mahya Rastegar, born in 1980 in Tehran, Iran, a graduate in Photography and a Documentary Photographer based in Tehran, Iran.

“I began to study Graphic Design in 2000, but quit it very soon in 2001 to find my interest field somewhere else. After many years, in 2010, I started to study Photography and graduated in 2013.

I am mainly a social documentary photographer, most interested in capturing women’s lives’ influential stories.
From the aspect of appearance, face, and fashion, women are different from each other.
Still, they are all the same in the way that all of them make efforts to get stronger in their inner world and possess the ability to live independently.
From 2015 until now, I’ve been working on a long-term documentary photographing project with Iranian women’s topics with influential stories. The collections of photos about each woman have the form of stories of their lives, meaning that I’m talking about these women’s lives by taking pictures of them.
While holding on to the passion of presenting all types of women issues as a woman and after some serious researches and studies, I started shooting Iranian women through different projects in 2013.”

Read the full article on Art Market Magazine Issue #52