Mahshad Hosseini – The Worshipers 2023
Mahshad Hosseini – The Worshipers 2023
Mahshad Hosseini – The Worshipers: 2023
Architecturally, Mosques, like other spaces of worship, separate the inside from the outside world to give focus on the internal. Islam’s long history of separating women from men during prayer has been influenced by various interpretations of religious texts and scholarly opinions. Separate, gender specific prayer spaces in Mosques can range from completely independent rooms to designated sections within larger, otherwise open, praying areas. Also, in Islam, modesty is emphasized as an important principle for maintaining appropriate relatonships between women and men. It is thought that these separate spaces encourage and physically enforce worshipers to concentrate on their prayers and to avoid unnecessary distraction.
This practice has a variety of feminist perspectives. Separating women and men this way represents and perpetuates the notion that women are inferior to men. To cast light on women’s access to religious spaces and tradition-bound roles within the community, The Worshipers project challenges patriarchal norms and promotes gender equality within religious spaces and society at large. The photographs in this showcase form a small part of my larger documentary project, The Worshipers, that untl now involves photographing worshipers of Islam in Toronto, Calgary and in Iran. This work is supported by a Roloff Beny Foundation Graduate Award in Photographic Art, and by the Department of Art, University of Lethbridge.
Mahshad Hosseini was born in 1999, in Isfahan, a city in the central part of Iran, famous for its architecture and handicrafts. She received her bachelor’s degree in photography from the Art University of Isfahan, where she conducted research about her hometown and began working with photo-montage, in a hybrid documentary and street style. She immigrated to Canada in 2022 and is currently studying in the Master of Fine Arts program at the University of Lethbridge. Despite being far from her homeland, she continues to work on related, conceptual and documentary issues with Iran and feminism.
Date:June 17th, 2023 - August 19th, 2023
Location:Casa - Platform
Casa Program Guide
The Casa Program Guide is produced three times a year; Winter, Spring/Summer and Fall. Inside the guide find listings for the upcoming class and workshop schedule, upcoming exhibitions at The Gallery, information about artists in residence and seasonal events in the building. Program guides are free. Pick-up guides at Casa or at facilities throughout the city.