Keep Calm, I’m Queen – 2020

In the recent years, there have been many sentences and phrases printed on pieces of clothing that seem to have multiple meanings and connotations. Since the 1960s, we have seen text being part of artworks, objects, and clothes, and during the Pop Art movement, the proliferation of such an approach was noteworthy. One such phrase is “Keep Calm, I’m Queen”, printed on many pieces of clothing all around the world, including in Iran. This coincided with a new wave of plastic surgery and beauty operations aimed at changing one’s face or exaggerating parts of it. “Keep Calm, I’m Queen” was a phrase printed on clothes and objects while many people were making exaggerated decisions about their appearances, behaviors, attitudes and lifestyles. Exaggeration became an approach taken up by many people; similar to how other things were used in exaggeration, including social media, consumer goods, and an attitude in making only appearances look polished.

Amongst these ideas, I was in search of the faces of Iranian women in the past, faces that did not include these exaggerations, people from a time long gone whose appearance, as well as their behavior and attitude, did not include such exaggerations.