Breaking free
Immigrant women escape Iran’s societal box with ‘SCARves’
Inside the 400 West Rich Street building in Franklinton, toilet paper dangles from exposed pipes and covers part of the floor of the X Space gallery.
Mirrored photos — some with cracks — line one wall, and, in the center of the room, a large cardboard box hangs from the ceiling.
Photographs of a naked, darkhaired woman — shrouded variously in scarves, toilet paper and the box — encompass the rest of the space, which is dedicated to the Ohio Art League.
When Judy Rush first saw the “SCARves” art installation, her initial thought was:
Then, the Bexley resident reconsidered.
“maybe is a better description,” said Rush, a fiber artist who has studio space
in the 400 West Rich Street building.
The exhibit, which opened this month and continues through April 30, compelled Rush to confront the stories of stoning, bondage and female oppression being told by the two Iranian-born women responsible for it.
“It pictorializes the struggles, and there’s a lot of discomfort — while it’s all still kind of beautiful,” Rush said.
Before immigrating to the United States four years ago, Raheleh Bagheri — a sculptor, painter and performing artist — wouldn’t have dreamed of showing a bare breast in a photo, let alone in a poster-size picture displayed publicly.
But she also wouldn’t have left her house in the Iranian capital of Tehran without a hijab (or head scarf). She wouldn’t have had male friends. And she wouldn’t have sculpted — “In Islam, it’s like building something compared to God,” she said — or criticized the Iranian government.
“Men, government, country, parents — they’re all saying, ‘This is the box you should believe in,’ “Bagheri said. “‘You can’t go over this line, or else you are a bad person.’ “
For Bagheri, 40, the shrouds that once literally covered her body served as daily reminders of the oppression of women in Iran. Nothing felt freer to her, upon leaving the country, than going without a scarf, as she did several times during trips to compete as a member of the Iranian women’s squash team. (Bagheri now coaches the sport at Ohio State University.)
She ditched the hijab for good when she moved to Columbus.
“When the plane is taking off, the first thing you see is women taking off their scarves,” Bagheri said. “People don’t appreciate the wind blowing through their hair, their ears.
“I’m not against the hijab, but you should be able to choose it.”
Although the exhibit reflects the challenges Iranian women face, Bagheri said, it also represents the inequality felt by women worldwide — whether the issue centers on clothing, marriage, career or even reproductive rights.
“In this country, there is a lot of freedom, and it’s a lot better than in my country.” Still, she said, she sees vast differences in the way men and women are treated here.
The idea for the exhibit had been percolating since Bagheri’s arrival in central Ohio, but not until she met her husband — Mark Changizi, a scientist of Iranian and American descent — did it become more feasible.
Two years ago, Changizi introduced her to Arezou Bizhani, his second cousin and a photographer eager to help Bagheri bring her vision to life. Bizhani and her husband, Babak Rafian, moved to the United States in 2014 after winning the visa lottery in Iran.
Having been a wedding photographer in her native country, Bizhani jumped at the chance to work for a greater artistic purpose and gain exposure by photographing Bagheri.
“It was a totally new experience for me,” said Bizhani, 29. “My work had never been seen on walls before — maybe in someone’s home as wedding pictures — but I love seeing it on the wall.”
Like Bagheri, Bizhani wanted to lend a voice to women’s challenges worldwide, especially as a new mother to daughter Tara Rafian, born last month.
“As a woman, I work as a complete individual — not under a man,” she said. “I’m so happy my daughter is American; she doesn’t have to deal with what I did as a girl.”
The toilet paper in the exhibit, Bagheri said, symbolizes how women too often are used and then cast aside; the box represents the limits women might feel.
Perhaps the most powerful pieces are three images of a veiled Bagheri adhered to cracked mirrors. The artists have provided stones to allow visitors to damage the glass even more.
“You’ll see a reflection of yourself, too,” Bagheri said. “It shows that ‘I could’ve been born here, and you could’ve been born over there. I am not Iranian, and you are not American — we are all the same.’”
Given the national debate about immigration, the Ohio Art League saw the women’s story and photos as especially pertinent, board member Tom Baillieul said.
“SCARves” was one of four league-member proposals selected for display this year in the X Space, a venue created to exhibit more-experimental work that might touch on socially sensitive topics or lack a typical gallery audience.
“The use of mirrors, photographs, calligraphy (Bagheri’s husband wrote on some of the pieces) — I thought, ‘This is so cool,’” Baillieul said. “‘This can expose the Columbus community to a new way of thinking and the diversity around us.’ “
Some central Ohioans, Bagheri said, don’t even know where to find Iran on a map, or that Iran is not Iraq.
Both Bagheri and Bizhani are angered that their homeland is among the six countries included in President Donald Trump’s travel ban. Several of Bizhani’s relatives had planned to visit baby Tara but now cannot.
Bagheri hopes that her story — like so many others, she said — underscores the upside of immigration: She works hard, pays for health insurance and pays taxes.
“I’m an independently successful artist, and I bring things here to make the country better,” she said.
“America is already great — we just make it greater.”