Roya Amigh
Detail of Listen to the distant voice, 2021
paper, thread, lace, and pieces of cloth and mirror 60 x 49 x 15 inches
Roya Amigh
Listen to the distant voice, 2021
paper, thread, lace, and pieces of cloth and mirror 60 x 49 x 15 inches
Listen to the distant voice reflects women’s role and voices in the movements and marches happening in the past few years of my life, including the Green Movement in Iran, 2009-2010; Women’s March 2017, in Boston; and the Vigil for Sara Everard, 2021, in England. By depicting the different movements in this work, I establish connections to societies that are too easily dismissed as "the other." I aim to demonstrate that violence against women is related, even if the practices differ between cultures.
Roya Amigh
Detail of Still I Rise, 2020
paper, thread, lace, and pieces of cloth and mirror 79 x 61 inches
Roya Amigh
Still I Rise, 2020
Paper, thread, lace, pieces of cloth 79 x 61 inches
I Still Rise is based on the collective memories of several [Dis]Honor Killings in Iran in 2020, and its title is borrowed from the eponymous book by Maya Angelou. Due to the pandemic, people in Iran were more active on social media and more involved with the #MeToo movement, allowing me to track down more cases of [Dis]honor Killings. I was about ten years old when I first heard about “honor killing” after a father hung his 16-year- old daughter. Some people in my community were devastated and some people were just fine with it. Since then, I often think about “Maria,” the girl. Her death was one of those echoes of injustice in our life.
Roya Amigh
A Line of Speed and Fire, detail, 2022
paper, thread, lace, and pieces of cloth and mirror 34 x 31 x 6 inches
Roya Amigh
A Line of Speed and Fire, 2022
paper, thread, lace, and pieces of cloth and mirror 34 x 31 x 6 inches
I focus on abortion movements and rights in Latin America, the Saudi feminist movement for Women the Right to Drive, and the lives of two prominent women figures, Harriet Tubman and Nasrin Sotoudeh.
Roya Amigh
Detail of Welcome and entertain them all, 2019
paper, thread, lace, and pieces of cloth 56 x 41 x 18 inches
Roya Amigh
Welcome and entertain them all, 2019
paper, thread, lace, and pieces of cloth 56 x 41 x 18 inches
Liberation of female sexuality in the three pieces, “Welcome and entertain them all” is partly informed by my study of the story of “Yusuf" [Jospeh] (the 12th chapter of the Quran) from a gender and sexuality perspective. I started this work by recreating some parts of several Persian miniatures, creating drawings that consisted of lines made by gluing and composing threads on paper. Specifically, I locate the recreated imagery of the miniature “Zulaykha and Yusuf”, by Kamal al-Din Behzad (1488), in the middle of the piece. Behzad is inspired by Jami’s poem, in which Zulaykha and Yusuf are both looking for true mystical love. Feminine guile is at the core of the story in this poem. I examine the representation of female sexuality and gender-centered storytelling in this work by recreating Zulaykha and Yusuf’s imagery. I juxtapose it with the other myths centered around female power such as Pari and Ghulah. Then, I create the stitched fragments so that they are shaping a vagina structure.
