MASHID MAHADJERIN - FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

MASHID MAHADJERIN
FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

Published by Pascal de Groote, 2021
Book size 20 x 27 cm
Texts in English. Several double-page fold-outs.
Pages 184 pages
Softcover
Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp
“Author’s Book Prize” at the Rencontres d’Arles 2021!

What does freedom mean? Through the lens of her camera and through a kaleidoscope of history of women in resistance in the Middle East and North Africa Mashid put together a multidimensional work which, through its varied formats such as photography, collage, text, and historical images, takes the viewer on a dreamlike journey neither bound by space nor time. Mashid's work is permeated with the dueling nature of documentation and art, past and present, pain and joy, war and peace, loss and creation.

This artist's book focuses on the private and public world of Iranian women who grew up after the Revolution of 1979 and on places of significance from Mashid's childhood. For these women the politics can no longer be separated from the personal - their bodies, their private and public lives have been and continue to be influenced by the Revolution.

Mashid Mohadjerin's works are part of an Artistic Doctoral Research at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Antwerp, which started as a research on female freedom fighters and culminated in a very personal journey to her native Iran.

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"What does freedom mean? Through the lens of her camera, and a kaleidoscope of stories of women in resistance in the Arab world, Mashid Mohadjerin has assembled a work with multiple dimensions that, through its various Formats such as photography, collage, text, and historical images, take the viewer on a dreamlike journey tied neither to space nor to time.

The artist's book and exhibition Freedom is Not Free focus on the private and public worlds of Iranian women who grew up after the 1979 revolution, and on important sites from Mohadjerin's childhood. For these women, the political can no longer be separated from the personal; their bodies, their public and private lives continue to be influenced by the revolution.

Freedom is Not Free is the result of Mashid Mohadjerin's thesis research work at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and the University of Antwerp.