ABSTRACT
Visual artist Parastou Forouhar addresses received ocular epistemologies. She asks how an audience sees. The German-Iranian artist closes the gap of women’s spectatorial distance from other women, which allows for a sense of control over the image. Her aesthetic calls for a dialectical and mobile “female” gaze on tawhid, the Muslim concept of the unity of God’s creation, to show its paradoxical meanings. She dispels postfeminist enchantment with “luminous” surfaces. At the same time, she understands the intricate surface as a sensuous lure that is not false. Ornamental design reveals the cultural scaffolding of violence against female- identified bodies.
