Divine Violence / Jin, Jîyan, Azadî (ژن، ژیان، ئازادی)

Divine Violence is conceived around “Jin, Jîyan, Azadî (ژن، ژیان، ئازادی),” or “Women, Life, Freedom.” Not just a slogan; “Jin, Jîyan, Azadî (ژن، ژیان، ئازادی),” is the discourse that came to light following the killing of a woman, Mahsa Amini, at the age of 22 by morality police in Iran. The phrase defines the actions taken by women toward freedom and gender equality in the Islamic state. The death of Amini was the sacrification of the woman, which is both sanctified and cursed. In other words, the finger cut by the Sharia doesn't hurt. The action ignited the feminist revolutionary struggle in Iran.

This exhibition investigates the ordinary and extraordinary emancipatory actions for women's lives and freedom in the Middle East from post-revolutionary Iran to today. Moreover, this exhibition will provide an alternative reading of Middle Eastern history through the lens of Islamic feminism and feminist solidarity. The controversial role of Middle Eastern women in the Islamic world will be critiqued. The geography of violence will be reinterpreted through the narratives, realities, testimonies, and distorted memories in Islamic feminist history.

The exhibition brings together an artist/lawyer, SB Arch Lab, an architect /curator, Gülistan Kenanoğlu, and an architect/artist, Çağlar Hanaylı who stand opposite the feudal, sexist, and patriarchal system. Through their similar stories and the stories they have witnessed, they will reinterpret Islamic feminist history through the lens of women's liberation.

Çağlar Hanaylı is an architect who is working mainly with archives. He specializes in cultural anthropology, migration/post-migration, and their effects on the cities' real estate/housing crisis. Hanaylı will be presenting two individual works in Divine Violence which are Iranian Women, Outcrying! and ( چادر ) Çador in Black. For this exhibition, he focuses on the archival documents of pre and post-Iranian revolution.

Iranian Women, Outcrying! is a collection of collages that Hanaylı has been working on since Amini’s unfortunate death. These collages depict the Iranian woman’s fight against the patriarchy and oppressive regimes through searching both online archives and his struggling friends' memories.

(چادر ) Çador in Black is an installation which follows the role of ( چادر ) Çador and its importance in the Iranian revolution. Çador has been a mandatory dress code for Iranian women following the Iranian Revolution, 1979. Not long after, in 1983, the dress code became law. Hanaylı used Iranian women’s long and black dress, called Çador in Farsi, to understand and present Iranian women’s sacrifices. Reinterpretation of çador in Hanaylı’s work shows his solidarity to Iranian women in their long-lasting fight over veiling.

SB Arch Lab is an interdisciplinary architecture and design laboratory focusing on urban-rural transformation within the Mesopotamian region through the lens of sovereignty, forms of violence, postcolonialism, and transnationalism. The laboratory takes a sociological approach focused on advocacy. SB Arch Lab works with human rights advocates, designers, scholars, curators, and architects. In Divine Violence, SB Arch Lab will present two works that have been developed with architects and a human right advocate.

The Finger Cut by Sharia Doesn't Hurt! (2024) is a video work that showcases the transformation of Iran, its streets, and Iranian women’s lives before and after the revolution. The work features collected archival videos and footage depicting scenes from the Iranian revolution.

Its Rules, Laws, and Structure (2016-2024) is a text-based work composed of prints. It is a continuation of the video work, which aims to understand the transformation in Iran through the rules, laws, and the state structure. This text-based work will indicate how the sacrification of women in the Middle East becomes legitimized and how this situation is integrated into society, starting from Islamic rule to modern law.

Gülistan Kenanoğlu is a Kurdish architect and independent curator specializing in exhibition practices around postcolonial art and architecture history and the effects of conflicts/wars on cities' public realm. She works at the intersection of architecture, design, and sociology with an adaptive approach and aims to produce alternative spaces and scenarios for the cities’ post-conflict era. For Divine Violence, Kenanoğlu will examine the factors, regimes, and movements that prepared the country for the Islamic revolution and, accordingly, will discuss the indistinct role of women in the Middle East and Islamic religion. She will present two works, Revolution on Streets and Iranian Ephemeralities.

Revolution on Streets is a collection of prints depicting slogans written on the walls of Iran’s streets. After the death of Mahsa Amini, Jin, Jîyan, Azadî / ژن، ژیان، ئازادی movement revoked once more in the region. The anonymous graffiti on the walls of Iranian streets is the uncensored storyteller of the people’s struggle against state and real witness of the protests in Iran against patriarchy and oppressive regimes. Kenanoğlu will reinterpret the anonymous graffiti on the walls of Iran and will take audiences on a walk through Iranian streets to incorporate the aftermath of women's feminist revolution.

Iranian Ephemeralities is a large-scale print narrative view of Iranian streets depicting the profound changes through the years. This print will project the narratives, realities, and distorted memories of people and their everyday lives, focusing on the ephemeralities of urban architecture. Iranian Ephemeralities investigates how women were evacuated from the streets of Iran through the state's regulations and policies.

Alongside the individual works of artist, architect, and lawyer, the collective works of SB Arch Lab, architect Çağlar Hanaylı, and architect, and curator Gülistan Kenanoğlu will be exhibited. These collaborative works have crucial importance in the exhibition. Artists, lawyers, and architects believe in the power of solidarity and collective knowledge. Here, they want to create solidarity in respect to the struggle of feminist revolutionists in the face of continued and embedded violence.

The collective works will be In the face of Divine Violence (2022) by Çağlar Hanaylı, and Gülistan Kenanoğlu, Women Figures, Iran (2016-2024) by SB Arch Lab, Çağlar Hanaylı, and Gülistan Kenanoğlu and an entrance video: Chanting Jin, Jîyan, Azadî / ژن، ژیان، ئازادی which welcomes visitors alongside graffiti that reads “You wrote with our blood that you didn’t kill Mahsa”.

In the face of Divine Violence (2022) is an installation work by Kenanoğlu and Hanaylı that investigates the concept of Divine Violence by German philosopher Walter Benjamin. It criticizes the forms of violence in pre-revolutionary Iran through today.

Women Figures, Iran (2016-2024) by SB Arch Lab, Kenanoğlu, and Hanaylı is an ongoing collective research project that investigates the important women figures of Iran who fight for women's rights and against the patriarchal regime. This is an ongoing research project that will be continued after the exhibition. This project will also examine the factors, regimes, and movements that prepared the country for the Islamic revolution. Alongside the portraits of Iranian women, there will be small explanatory texts.

By bringing together all these amazing artists, lawyers and architects, Divine Violence is an attempt to raise awareness for the Jin, Jîyan, Azadî / ژن، ژیان، ئازادی movement and women’s fight for their lives and freedom. This exhibition brings another perspective to Iranian women's struggle through the lens of Islamic feminism and feminist solidarity.

The curator would like to express gratitude to the artists, architects, and lawyers who have shared their work for this exhibition. She also thanks all who have supported her research for Divine Violence.



Gülistan Kenanoğlu
Open Call Exhibition
© apexart 2024