Seventeenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Despite the general belief that Islam forbade representational images of people and in particular, women’s faces, in 19th century Iran, the king of Persia, Naser al-Din Shah, photographed Persian women in his harem in erotic poses. His interest in photography and the camera led him to unveil the secret life of the private circles of his kingdom starting in his Court. In 19th Century, the King of Persia’s interest in photography made him to reveal images of the forbidden bodies from within the most intimate and private places of andarun (harem). This is how the private realm became public and its hidden subjects became unveiled for the first time. The photograph of women from the harem in 19th century Persia could mark the birth of modern women in Iranian society. In Naseri period when the culture was so conservative and the concept of private (andaroun) was intensely guarded by the notion of male honor (namus), the camera brought the private to the public when presented the images of forbidden and unveiled women, helped the unseen to be seen and the invisible become visible in Iranian society. It was through photography that women could become active agents in the formation of their own modernity not only by participating as subjects, they also become active agents in the formation of modern yet masculine medium of photography. The photograph recorded the moment that modern medium gave birth to the formation of modern Iranian woman.