Subversiva repetitioner. Hur Shadi Ghadirians fotoserie Qajar uttrycker och kommenterar religionens roll i Iran

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the capacity of visual art to discuss religious and sociopolitical issues, proposing subversive aspects in the Iranian artist Shadi Ghadirians photo series Qajar (1998). Qajar mirrors the photographic entry in Iran during the late 19th century, when the then ruler Nasir al-Din Shah started to photograph. Via image analysis and the postmodern theory of mimicry, I explore how Ghadirian repeats historical and contemporary discourses in Iran with significant differences that suggest that she wants to make a change. I analyze if and how the religious attributes in Qajar strengthen a resistance discourse in Iran and offer different interpretations regarding this. Qajar can be seen as resistance against Islam; the religious attributes are often presented as constructed parts of the image; the holiness is secondary or imperceptible. Still, the religious attributes are not the only artificial objects in Qajar. Another interpretation is that she recants an Islamic visuality that has been hijacked by the theocratic regime. In Qajar, women wear hijab and still they bike, drink beer etc., acts prohibited or limited in Iran. In one way Qajar suggests that religion should not be dictated in a modern state, simultaneously arguing that no one has to sacrifice one’s faith to participate in a modern state.