No veil
To introduce the photo report of Lucio Cavicchioni we thought about letting the voice of a woman speak. Shirin Nesrat, contemporary artist and world famous photographer, was born in Iran and for many years she's been interested in womens' issues regarding her work, especially issues with respect to the Islamic world. Here is a draft of her interview about the complex veil question; an issue about people with prudence and fore-sight that can't hold firm and univocal opinions.
"I think it is a common characteristic of females, the act of not thinking about a dualistic view of existence [...] My interest in the veil was born from its ambiguous nature in Islamic society; the veil protects women from being considered as mere objects, allowing them to be respected but at the same time it was born from the consciousness of men about the inability to control their own sexuality by forcing women to cover themselves. But the revolution has forced women to occupy public jobs, putting them on the same level as men. The veil is a political action; women who wear the veil show their solidarity with the fight against the Westernization of their society, so the veil becomes also a symbol of the fight aganst Imperialism. There are many interpretations about the veil, we are starting to talk about it in this modern era. It is an issue that won't easily stop producing disputes".
Text by Niccolò de Mojana
