Opinion piece

A Woman Crawling Slowly and Tirelessly

by shirin farshbaf

After September 2022 so many demonstrations and events took place all over the world. Woman, Life, Freedom (Jin, Jiyan, Azadî) is a Feminist movement which started in Iran after the regime killed Mahsa Amini for not wearing a hijab which has been mandated among women after the Islamic revolution in 1979.

I, though not living in Iran for the last 4 years, actively engaged in a series of demonstrations in Vienna and once in Berlin, witnessed firsthand the urgent need to amplify the voices of Iranian women and people who have long been silenced by oppressive regimes. I have no trust in the bias and prejudice of social media and media reports serving political agendas rather than accurately portraying the struggles of marginalized communities. Thus, I think geopolitical acts like protests or demonstrations can be a vital alternative way to grasp attention and challenge misconceptions.

In the context of a crisis within the Iranian migrant community, so far at this point in time, the power hierarchy, the dominant proportion of race and color appears to adopt a stance of either silence or delivers ambiguous messages, and it is of course when marginalized communities feel unheard or overlooked during difficult times that it can bring rage.

As an artist, through my art, I aim to provoke thought and raise awareness about the position of Iranian women, artists, migrants, utilizing performance, in the core using my body, as a powerful tool for activism - a woman’s body which has been used as a battlefield for control and oppression.

In my piece Metaphor, I depict a woman crawling slowly and tirelessly, her delicate but continuous movements tracing patterns on a paper path with her hair. This performance for me symbolizes resilience and endurance, shedding light on the struggles often overlooked throughout history and reclaiming her narrative. 

By highlighting the restriction (moving only within the paper path) and challenges faced by women, I broaden the scope of my performance to address the ongoing efforts and regional/global struggle for gender equality. In such societies, individuals, especially women, are subject to constant surveillance and control, so any effort to achieve equality and regain their autonomy is a threat to the government.

The endeavour is motivated by a deep-seated belief in the power of diverse voices and perspectives. As an artist in the diaspora who tries to extend the roots beyond the soil, I see my practice as a journey marked by resilience, adaptation, and a continual desire to identify myself as a dance artist from Iran, between the complexities of a dispersed existence.

About the author
Shirin Farshbaf is a dance/performance artist from Iran currently living in Austria, with over a decade of performing and creating experience. Her performative works reflect the condition of society and transform the body through various possibilities of movements. She is interested in interdisciplinary art and the coming together of visual, physical, and sonic experiments in a collaborative environment. The core of her conceptual works is always a body in correlation/connection with different materials or situations. Currently, she is studying in the MAE program at the MUK University of Vienna