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Shirin Aliabadi
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Shirin Aliabadi, Iran

In light of the current fashion trends among young Iranian women, "Miss Hybrid" aims at capturing the aesthetic nuances that shape, reshape and reinvent the identity of the new Iranian girl.

Under the hospice of the Islamic veil, the "in look" is blond hair, blue, green or grey contact lenses, occasional facial piercing and most importantly, surgical nose tape which seems to have become a fashion “must have” among the targeted group. Miss Hybrid can be seen as a make-believe alternative beauty pageant believing that natural beauty is unfair, elitist and practically irrelevant, while artificial beauty sparked by an insatiable need to transform into someone else, via cosmetic intervention, can be regarded as a healthy exercise in cultural rebellion and global integration, therefore, considered fair game and worthy of attention.

Aliabadi
Miss Hybrid 1
This project explores the creative formal aspects of censorship as seen in this collection of vintage local and western-censored magazines in Iran.  Before young girls reach puberty they can be dressed up and made to look beautiful in the western sense of the word.  It is because this similar portrayal of adult women is censored, magazine editors use instead images of young girls on the cover, as a loophole from censorship to sell their magazines.  The general public has no moral dilemma accepting the sexualization of young girls as a norm. For the artists, this presents a fascinating contradiction in light of the ongoing battle between religious beliefs and pop culture.
Aliabadi

Perverted Collage, Farhad Moshiri and Shirin Aliabadi, 2003, 45 Iranian family magazine covers

"Sofreh" (Tablecloth) is an installation inspired by the traditional eating habits of Iranians. The entire family gathers around the Sofreh on the floor.  It used to be quality family time but now the TV is the main attraction. Dinnertime is now soap opera time.  The artists reconceived this very dinner with the porcelain platter bearing the images of the new stars taken from posters and popular magazines. The Sofreh installation is a simple inventory of images and facts about the paradoxes within the emerging post- revolutionary popular culture. In the context of this exhibition, "Sofreh" gains yet another identity — empowering Iranian women by paying homage to Judy Chicago's installation "The Dinner Party."
Aliabadi
Sofreh Section
 
 
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