Zolf (Hair) زلف

This piece was a part of a group exhibition, Soft Power, curated by Danielle Hatch.

Zolf means hair in the Persian language. This fabric-based installation is a response to country-wide protests and the ongoing women-led revolution in Iran that ignited after a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian girl, Mahsa-Jhina Amini, was killed by the Hijab Police in Tehran, Iran. Women's hair has been mandated to be covered by authorities in the patriarchal system as a means to control the female body, specifically in public spaces; while uncovering hair (removing hijab) has been a form of protest by women against the authoritarian regime. In this work, strips of fabrics abstractly represent hair. Through this site-specific installation, the artist brings women's hair back to public spaces, uncovered (bi-hijab).

Zolf is an homage to the fearlessness, intelligence, and resistance of women on an everyday basis around the world, notably these days, our sisters in Iran.