Mourning Veil

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

I worked on this project during a two-month stay in Tehran in fall 2021. My arrival coincided with the peak of the fifth wave of Covid-19 there. Avoiding people and forgoing all travel plans for fear of infection afforded me a blissful period of solitude and reflection, and uninterrupted time to work.

I approached this project with what was available to me inside the house: myself as the subject, my mother’s mourning veil, and my smartphone camera. Yet I hesitate to call these self-portraits. They are images of me, and the same time they are not. I don’t recognize myself in many of these shots. Instead, I see images of different women.

This is an homage to all the women who have been held back because of traditions, discrimination, intimidation, abandonment, abuse, betrayal, depression—the list is long. It’s an homage to those who live like a ghost in the background, and to those who, with perseverance, are able to push the veil aside and step out. Regardless of their situation, they are always the source of the light.