Sarina, The day she became a woman
Ramak Bamzar, Sarina, The day she became a woman. 2022.
From Moustachioed Women and Rhinoplastic Girls series.Photograph. Pigment ink-jet print.50 cm x 70 cm.
I consider this work an opening for Rhinoplastic Girls. Sarina - the most personal piece in the collection
- was created with de Beauvoir's approach, refers to the circumstances and position of women from
childhood under strict religious and theocracy regimes.
The image is a recreation of my experience at the age of nine from the Obligation Ceremony, known as
Jashn-e Taklif. A ceremony that formally celebrates girls' womanhood at the age of nine in Islamic
countries.
In this shot, using pink material and textiles, a playful, nurturing and nostalgic colour, I depict
childhood, in which a girl wearing a white spiritual veil while holding a Barbie doll. My metaphorical
considerations refer to my childhood in Iran, where I grew up under the theocracy of the Islamic
Republic and was influenced by the ideologies of my religious dogma.
This naive child knew nothing when you were constantly in school. TV and the street were talking about
death, doomsday, woman, hijab, sin and the agony of hell.
