In her Behnam series
of photographs, Parastou Forouhar exercises her richly subtle wit in presenting
the back of a man’s head ringed by
a crown of sparse hair, his face and body completely covered by a black
chador with a black floral pattern. The photographs of the man, reclining on
the floor in various positions, are arranged in a row like ornaments framed by
a frieze. From a distance, the photographs look like the kind of inkblot tests
used by psychologists. But as you step closer, you recognise the ambiguity of
what lies behind the serial alignment. This is the point at which Forouhar’s
‚ornamental structure’ tips out of kilter. For, instead of the image we expect
– a woman robbed of her individuality by the chador, faceless and bereft of
identity on the streets of Iran – what we actually see is a man whose thinning
hair is an adornment that really is hardly worth concealing.
text by Schoole Mostafawi translated by Ishbel Flat
fotos by Jogi Hild
