How We Became Us – A Feminist Intervention in Public Space, 2025
Zohreh Solati
public intervention
In this project, I aim to perform embodied actions and artistic interventions in public spaces of Tehran—particularly in locations historically shaped by gender segregation, surveillance, and the suppression of women's bodily presence. The performance involves wearing and carrying a series of women’s garments—my own and those of my female family members and friends—connected together by a long red rope. Before entering the streets, these connected garments are prepared, and small pieces of mirror are sewn onto them. I then carry them into the selected public location.
Accompanied by these garments tied together with red rope, I position myself in the center of the chosen site, placing myself fully in the public eye. In silence, and sometimes with a fixed gaze into the distance, I begin sewing parts of the fabric into the palms of my hands. This act carries a conceptual weight of connection, shared pain, care, and resistance.
The chosen locations—metro cars, public buses, pedestrian bridges, the Grand Bazaar of Tehran, and cafés—are all spaces where women's bodily autonomy is continuously regulated, surveilled, or marginalized. Their selection is deliberate and grounded in lived experience.
Gallery
About the Artist
Zohre Solati (b. 1986, Tehran) is an Iranian media artist and sociological documentary photographer. A mother of a teenage son, Solati is both the subject and the creator of her work. “I see my body as part of the work,” she says, “as if I am simultaneously the subject and the maker.” She sees herself as an essential part of each piece, using art to understand her identity and its complexities. Solati hopes viewers find parts of themselves in her work. She believes that despite the systematic oppression of women and the layered discrimination they face in Iran, we must persist, continue creating, and never give up.
Her interdisciplinary practice blends photography, performance, and video art, focusing on themes of identity, gender, and sociopolitical structures. Notable works include This Is Who I Am and the ecofeminist photobook SHE & I. She was a 2024 Global Fellow at the Goldin Institute and joined WEAD in 2025. Solati’s work has been widely exhibited and internationally recognized for its emotional intensity and critical depth.
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