Women photographers–Iran, Arab World

Recently a friend and I journeyed to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.  We looked at their current exhibit of prints by John James Audubon.  What most impressed us, however, was the exhibit of photographs by women photographers from Iran and the Arab world, “She Who Tells a Story.”  In various ways these women document the dramatic changes in their lives under the extreme strictures of oppressive religious regimes, as well as challenge western misconceptions of Middle Eastern women.  One especially moving sequence is by Boushra Almutawakel, who was born in Yemen and studied both there and in the United States.  The 2010 sequence, titled “Mother, Daughter, Doll,” consists of nine photographs of the photographer, her daughter, and the daughter’s doll.  The first photograph shows the mother in a light-colored headscarf, with the daughter’s and doll’s heads uncovered.  The series progress through several changes–to darker clothing and head coverings, to the hijab (headscarf), to the niqab (full Islamic veil with a slit for the eyes), to the final image when the three figures disappear.  Clearly a statement opposing the trend in the Middle East toward more covering, the sequence also challenges the Western perception of the hijab.  Boushra herself wears a hijab in Yemen, saying she doesn’t feel comfortable without it.  “It is advantageous and empowering in some ways as it protects and privatizes the woman’s body.”  [Text quoted and paraphrased from She who Tells a Story: Women Photographers From Iran and the Arab World, by Kristen Gresh, published by MFA Publications, ©2013.]  I highly recommend seeing this exhibit if you can.  It remains at the MFA through January 12, 2014.  I don’t know if the exhibit will travel to other venues.