Black
Moghadam’s work explores the limitations and restrictions placed on women and their bodies. In her series Black, time images capture the artist’s hair as she gently sways back and forth. For Moghadam, hair is a constant physical reminder of femininity and the limits of the agency of the female body within culture, specifically Middle Eastern culture. Hair as an expression of identity plays a significant role throughout Moghadam’s body of work. In Black, the act of Moghadam using her own body and hair is an expression against the restrictive traditions she has grown up in and her hair serves as a source of power and a demonstration of defiance.
For Moghadam, this form of self-portraiture is a means of building solidarity with other women, and showing others both inside and outside her culture what it means to be a woman. In Moghadam’s work this act of reclamation finds inspiration in the efforts of women worldwide who are defending their basic, undeniable rights.
Please note that the exhibition will be closed temporarily from July 23 - August 8, 2018
About the Artist:
Nasim Moghadam is a Bay Area artist working across multiple disciplines, including photography, video, and sculptural installations. Her work attempts to deconstruct the roles of power and gender in Middle Eastern Culture in order to address subjects such as femininity, discrimination, and identity. She is interested in how cultural background informs each individual’s identity.
Image credit: Nasim Moghadam, Black, 2018 (detail)