ARTIST BIO
Mona Bozorgi is an artist-scholar whose interdisciplinary research and artistic practice explore the correlation between representation and performativity in photography. Bozorgi’s artistic practice is intertwined with posthuman critical theory and focuses on the process of the materialization of bodies and its impact on the construction and production of identities. As an Iranian-born artist, her work confronts historical exclusions based on gender and provides alternative ways of understanding the contemporary self. Bozorgi’s work has been exhibited in numerous museums and galleries in the U.S. and internationally in Austria, England, Sweden, South Korea, and Iran, among others.
ARTIST STATEMENT
In contemporary societies, bodies have always been politicized and monitored by various policies and laws in different social, cultural, and religious contexts. The aestheticization of bodies too frequently treats women like objects at the expense of their well-being and human rights. This aesthetic normalization not only becomes part of individuals’ daily lives but also creates an exclusive representation in photographic media. In the past few years, many artists have tried to overturn and challenge this issue by focusing on inclusive ways of representation and disrupting the standardization of beauty. This project attempts to reveal the possibility of changing (or at least interrogating) the epidemic formula of narrowly objectifying representations of female identity in photographic media and questioning the historical influence of photography in creating repressive representations. Even though objectification of women is a global phenomenon, I am necessarily informed by my culture and by the predominant religion of my country, Iran.
In Objet Fatale, I utilize a photo-sculptural strategy and flat studio lighting similar to product shots to remove the photograph from their context and question the commercialization of bodies. Depicted and treated as objects, women develop a false sense of value and attempt to reach unattainable beauty standards, defined within the context of patriarchal society and male desire. These counterfeit values and ideas of perfection limit women by pushing them to reject their unique characteristics and compare themselves against false ideals created and promoted through photographic media. In Objet Fatale, I employ photography’s transformative power to continually shift the register of portrayal between the subject- and object-hood of the feminine. Furthermore, I attempt to signify how photography as a multilayered cultural carrier can disrupt the photographic illusion and restore subject-hood by emphasizing materiality.
Tallahassee, FL / United States
