Soheila Sokhanvari – Rebel Rebel

Mixing Islamic geometries, western pop references, and classic portrait paintings, Iranian artist Soheila Sokhanvari (b. 1964) pays an extravagant, hyperpolitical, and heartfelt tribute to the significant courage of female icons from pre-revolutionary 1970s Iran.

Sokhanvari’s first solo exhibition in Denmark features 21 exquisite miniature portraits of once celebrated Iranian women including Vida Ghahremani, the first woman to be kissed in close up in popular Filmfarsi cinema; the controversial modernist poet Forough Farrokhzad; and the leading intellectual and writer Simin Dāneshvar.

The exhibition title, Rebel Rebel, borrows from David Bowie’s 1974 cult song to remind us that these women pursued their careers in a culture enamoured with Western art and style but not its freedoms.

The title also serves as a lament to the fate of these women. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979 and the subsequent establishment of a conservative Islamic theocracy, they were left with a stark choice: to renounce any role in public life, or to be forced into exile.

Sokhanvari currently lives and works in Cambridge as a studio artist at Wysing Arts Centre since 2013. Her multidisciplinary work weaves layers of political histories with intriguing, mysterious, and often humorous narratives.

In Rebel Rebel, each of Sokhanvari’s delicate portraits is hung against a hand-painted mural based on traditional Islamic geometries. This absorbing pattern covers the entire gallery; alongside the portraits Sokhanvari has created mesmerizing, sculptural mirrored forms, which feature internal projections drawn from classic Iranian cinema.

Flowing through the exhibition is a new soundtrack, composed by Marios Aristopoulos, which weaves together songs by celebrated Iranian singers from the mid-20th century, an especially poignant gesture given it remains illegal for a woman’s voice to be broadcast in Iran.

The exhibition is produced in close collaboration with the artist and Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery and was originally commissioned by the Barbican, London.

Stibo Foundation

Per and Lise Aarsleff Foundation

Statenskunst Foundation

British Embassy Copenhagen

Wholesaler L.F. Foghts Foundation

Jotun

Front picture creditline:

Installation view: Soheila Sokhanvari - Rebel Rebel, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum Foto: Mads Smidstrup