![Al-Raida [The Pioneer] is a feminist journal published by the Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University](http://www.alraidajournal.com/public/journals/1/pageHeaderLogoImage_en_US.png)
Keywords
gender
Iran
the gaze
How to Cite
Abstract
Iran’s public sphere has been segregated along gender lines since the Islamic Revolution
in 1979 and is regularly policed by the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. This
article considers the ways in which the resulting homosocial spaces appear in the works
of contemporary artists working in Tehran. Looking at video and photographic works
by three Iranian artists, I argue that contemporary art is hyper aware of being under
surveillance and addresses itself to multiple viewers. I bring queer viewing strategies
as a method of viewing these artworks in order to point to the continuum between
homosocial and homoerotic spaces that permeate contemporary Iranian art.
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