Women, Life, Freedom: The Body of the Woman in Struggle
In 2023, inspired by the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran, London Metropolitan University curated an exhibition in collaboration with Central Saint Martins and Public Works, for the Venice Architecture Biennale Carnival programme.
Four pieces of work were produced as a collaboration between academics and students who were inspired by the feminist, anti-colonial and radical nature of the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. These pieces focus on the body of women in struggle, colonised by patriarchal values and systems that both shapes culture and becomes a realm for counter-culture.
The event in Venice showed films thematising the struggle over counter-culture. The control and manipulation of women played a major role in undermining social and gender relations previously prevalent in Iranian society. Women were forcibly unveiled in 1936 by the military government of Reza Shah and initially forced to behave like ‘Western” women. Their bodies and public presence were used as tools in the service of the patriarchal ideal of modernity.
Visit
Always open and always free, the Window Galleries are located in the thoroughfare of the Central Saint Martins building in Granary Square
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