Vagina Festival - Conversation 1 - Fahimeh Vahdat

In my last entry I told you about my conversation with Alexandra Jacoby, which was probably the most all-encompassing one that really pieced together the whole weekend and Vagina Festival for me.

It was the conversation I had with exhibiting artist, Fahimeh Vahdat that really hit close to home in a personal way through the connection we share as Femal Persian/Iranian Americans. I hadn't yet gotten the chance to view the art in the gallery room at Vagina Festival when my sister ran over to me in a frenzy excited about a piece of work that had farsi script written on it. She dragged my dad over to translate and of course I got stuck at the Maxim post.

I sat at my post excited and waiting my turn to view the artwork of a fellow Iranian American Woman and I thought to myself "wow, a Persian Woman Artist on exhibit at the Vagina Festival?!!??!!" Why the "wow" you may be asking?

Even as the very priviliged first generation Female Persian American that I am, in coming from a culture where women were and in some cases still are treated as second class citizens and have no sense of self or opportunity other than being a homemaker(not that there is anything wrong with being a homemaker if that is what you so desire and not something that is forced upon you), I am still impressed and excited by women who have overcome the traditional boundaries faced by their ancestors and other woman.

An artist who is free to express herself however she wishes is truly free. Through her artwork, Fahimeh Vahdat has reached the ultimate freedom; not only has she personally broken the chain of traditional female supression plaguing many Iranian women, but she is using her talent to inspire and inform others about the work that remains to be done to free all women.



In "The Soldiers are Coming" piece photographed above and exhibited at Vagina Festival, Vahdat depicts the threat of violence experienced by the women of Iran. Although Vahdat's focus on terrorized women lies with her experience and connection to Iran, she is quick to note that "violence against women is a worldwide phenonmenon, not limited to country, type of government, ethnicity, race religion or class." "The Soldiers are Coming" is only one of a series from "What will Befall Her?" that explores Vahdat's interest in addressing the other forms of gender opression women face around the world, which include but ar not limited to the killing of female babies, bride burning, "honor killing", rape camps, female genital mutilation, sexual trafficking in women and children and incest. With women like Vahdat on the forefront encouraging people to have conversations about the tortures women face on a daily basis, we are well on our way to free other women.

I'm not much of a talker, so although I say I was lucky enough to actually meet and have a conversation with Vahdat at the Vagina Festival, it really wasn't as much of a verbal conversation as I wish I could have had. It was the visual conversation I had with her piece of work that moved me the most and said more than any number of words could possibly say.

Thank you Vahdat for your work and inspiration in creating conversations!