While debates in the United States have been very polarized in recent years, and we often tend to label those who don’t think like us, a recent decision by Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, requires a little more perspective.
Taravat Talepasand: Down with taboos
Iranian-American artist Taravat Talepasand describes himself on his website as an activist with a special interest in gender issues and political authority.
Although she has been a professor since 1999, most recently at Portland State University, her art has earned her notoriety and recognition. Her track record is eloquent and she has multiplied exhibitions in several major American cities.
The artist’s style and the mission she has given herself leave few people indifferent. She shocks, she provokes and some call her art subversive. Based on this information, I became interested in the exhibition of several of his works organized by Macalester College.
Society is changing and the leadership of museum institutions is constantly struggling with responses or demands that can easily be associated with censorship or a culture of exile. The phenomenon can be seen on both the left and the right.
When, as I wish, a few museum curators oversee the exhibitions, it is not uncommon for the presentation of certain exhibitions to be better managed, or for a few works to be reserved for a more discreet presentation.
These veiled works
Even if it sometimes takes on an erotic character, Taravat’s art often revolves around two themes that she regularly integrates into the same work: the emancipation of women in Iran and the denunciation of the regime.
Whether it highlights a woman defying authorities by lifting her dress while showing the middle finger to authorities, or depicting another woman wearing the niqab but showing intentionally prominent breasts, we understand that the artist reacts. Perhaps more in connection with the demonstrations that have shaken Iran for a few weeks.
It was Muslim students who expressed their outrage at the content of the exhibition. After what the New York Times on Monday they thought some works were cartoonish.
After listening to these students, the faculty kept the exhibition but ironically also decided to veil the windows to see the inside of the room where the works are presented. We then wrote small warnings for visitors.
Our American neighbors were already more artistically daring, with the CIA going so far as to covertly fund the promotion of protesting and marginalized artists.1but I believe Macalester College’s stance is wise in the current context.
When the reference to the veil is particularly uncomfortable, we’ve been listening to the Muslim community, but at the same time supporting an artist who has in no way violated the limits of free speech.
1. During the Cold War we wanted to emphasize the freedom of American artists from the restrictions imposed on artists from the USSR. See Promotion of American Art, by Taylor D. Littleton and Maltby Sykes.