Artist Golsa Yaghoob stands in front of her piece, "The Long Wait." "Veiled Presence" contains 23 pieces of artwork.

'Veiled' meanings: MFA exhibit showcases Iranian traditions

By: Anna Nguyen

Posted: 9/3/08

Twenty-three haunting, large-scale paintings in muted tones are displayed prominently in the Fine Arts Center Gallery. The somber collection, titled "Veiled Presence," is the first featured collection of the master of fine arts thesis exhibitions.

For Golsa Yaghoobi, the artwork not only functions as her thesis presentation, but it also serves as a personal show that demonstrates her frustration and anger in being raised in Iran where freedom was confined.

"Veiled Presence" uses a monochromatic color palette. Yaghoobi chose to work in black because the color symbolizes "sadness and mourning as well as the traditional color worn by women in Iran," she said. "It contrasts the colorful Western lives."

Born and raised in post-revolution Tehran, Iran, Yaghoobi grew up in an open-minded family and had a Westernized upbringing, she said. Although she was "not subjected to the religious pressures experienced by many Iranians, I had not experienced true freedom in the many routine activities of daily life," said Yaghoobi, according to her artist statement.

To be an artist living in Iran is difficult, especially if it's a woman, Yaghoobi said.

"The art studies there is so limited," she said. "At school, you need to research mostly by yourself." Contrarily, art studies in the U.S. enables "you [to] express yourself freely without any fear of punishment."

Yaghoobi's studies at the UA are her first trip to the U.S., she said.

"My father encouraged me to study in the [U.S.]," said Yaghoobi, who contacted many art teachers at various schools. She settled to study at the UA in 2004 because she found the professors to be friendlier, she said.

"I was not able to speak English, and the teachers [at the UA] were patient with me," said Yaghoobi, who spent six months taking intensive language classes. She then assumed her art studies in 2005, she said.

In preparation for her MFA exhibit, Yaghoobi spent a year to come up with the subject matter and sketched her ideas. She devoted two months of last summer to paint and produced 23 pieces for "Veiled Presence," she said.

The collection features a lot of veiled women, which Yaghoobi uses as a metaphor to describe the visible and the invisible.

"You're there, but you're not there," she said. "The veil is a tool to make you invisible."

Accompanying the paintings are words from Persian poetry by women who describe the pain and yearning of their lives. Like how the veil functions, the poetry's connotation has many meanings, with the hidden significance being more important, according to the press release.

Yaghoobi quotes the poetry of Forough Farrokhzad, Freidoon Moshiri and Sohrab Sepehri. She uses mostly the works of Farrokhzad, whose poetry is about the sufferings of women who hope for a better future.

"But it's ironic," Yaghoobi said. "[The women] are hoping, but they are just giving up. They don't do anything for themselves. They just wait for their fates."

Yaghoobi's MFA exhibit relates to an upcoming exhibit that the gallery will display in September, said gallery director Shannon Dillard Mitchell. The bigger exhibit, titled "The Veil: Visible & Invisible Spaces," will feature one piece from Yaghoobi's collection, she said.

"Veiled Presence" will be displayed at the Fine Arts Center Gallery until Friday. The gallery is open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday and 1 to 4 p.m. Sunday.