Synopsis

Responding to colonial and Orientalist narratives of representation, I use dance as a site of exchange and enquiry. 'See, Hear, Speak'  (2003) is a 4 minutes  private performance mediated through the camera as part of a bigger body of dance performances that attempts to reframe the cliched spectacle of belly dance within private and public spaces.

Restricting the shot to a close-up of the head, rather than the focus on the belly and the sexualised body of a belly dancer, I use my own hair as a veil juxtaposed to a soundtrack associated with belly dancing. The frantic and raging movement of the head, the unveiling and yet obscuring of the face both invites and interrupts the gaze to claim self-agency and to deny the popular cultural spectacle of this dance as well as patriarchal constructs.  

Maria.Kheirkhah