The large, four-part photographic work Freitag (Friday) shows a detail of a piece of beautiful chador fabric ornamented in black on black. A thumb and part of a hand can be seen holding the cloth. The flowing fabric with its floral motif looks sumptuous and special, but neither the fold of the cloth nor the movement of the hand is clear. The question of whether the fabric is being held in place or whether the hand is about to tear it away remains unanswered.
In a culture of concealment, the significance of the visible is heightened. The fragments of the body that can be shown symbolically represent all that cannot be shown and cannot be said. This makes them eloquent and multivalent.
Friday is to Moslems in some respects what Sunday is to Christians. For many, it is a day of rest, to be spent with the family and on which to dress well. But it is also a day on which the long Friday prayers and sermons, so important to Islamists, are held at the mosque. A day when morality and order are invoked and defined, when the mullahs of Iran often speak to crowds of thousands, who then chant their propaganda slogans. Rhythmically, ecstatically.Text excerpts from Tausend und ein Macht, Britta Schmitz - translated by Ishbel Flat
foto by Renate Schildheuer
