- Title
- Untitled, from the series Listen
- Date Made
- 2011
- Medium
- Inkjet print on Hahnemühle paper
- Dimensions
- Image: 41 1/8 × 51 1/4 in. (104.46 × 130.18 cm)
Sheet: 50 × 64 1/4 in. (127 × 163.2 cm)
- Accession Number
- M.2012.142.4
- Collecting Area
- Art of the Middle East: Contemporary
- Curatorial Notes
This photograph is from the series Listen, which was conceived by Newsha Tavakolian as a group of imaginary CD covers for fantasy albums
by women singers, who have not been permitted to perform in public since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. The unexpected image
of a young woman enveloped in black, but sporting bright red boxing gloves and standing in the middle of a deserted four-lane
highway with her back to the city, is meant to provoke and perhaps to confront viewers with their own preconceptions. Tavakolian’s
engaging and vibrant images, as here, document the evolving role of women who are empowered to battle against or subvert
gender-based restrictions. This woman is a force to be reckoned with. She belongs to a generation that attempted to work within
the system but against the status quo. A decade on from the time this print was made, a new cohort of young women are engaging in a different approach, yet this image recently went viral on social media as a symbol of their struggle to change Iran. Newsha Tavakolian is a self-taught photographer and photojournalist who has achieved international recognition through her body of documentary work, which provides sharp insight into contemporary Iranian society.
- Selected Bibliography
- Komaroff, Linda, Stephanie Rouinfar, Sandra Williams, and Sarah Mostafa Ahmed. Women Defining Women in Contemporary Art of the Middle East and Beyond. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2023. https://archive.org/details/women-defining-women (accessed January 12, 2024).
