Explanation of symbols in the work Woman, Life, Freedom performed Aug 5. 2023 (In Danish below):
The work is a commentary on the Iranian regime’s choice to create an international diplomatic crisis over the burning of the Koran by a few individuals, which the regime itself uses to legitimize the oppression of millions of women.
The work contains six elements:
1: a Koran
2: a grater
3: a green urn
The grater and the performance transform the Quran into:
4: an empty book cover
5: a pile of torn pages, which are placed in the urn
6: a small pile of torn pages lying on the ground after the performance
The six elements can be seen as symbols:
1 The Quran (being torn on a grater):
The Iranian regime has forcibly given itself the right to interpret the Quran. The regime uses its interpretation of the Quran to oppress women.
2 The grater (that tears the Quran):
The grater is a metaphor for the woman and at the same time also a symbol that women are relegated to the kitchen in a priestly dictatorship. When the grater (woman) tears the Quran to pieces, it is a protest against the written words that are used to keep her imprisoned.
3 The green urn (in which the torn pages are placed):
The urn is a symbol of burial, death and oblivion. In Islamic countries they don’t burn corpses, but in the West they do, so the urn is also a symbol that in the West, the words of the Quran cannot have the same life and meaning as they do in an Islamic dictatorship. Green is the color of Islam, and it is also a symbol of the Green Movement in Iran, which once fought for reforms in Iran but was stifled by the regime.
4 The empty book cover:
A symbol that a book is only what we make it. We are the masters of what we put into a book and what we take out of it.
5 The torn pages that are placed in the urn:
Words that have been separated from each other and separated from the book cover. We now see that these are just printed words on paper. The words that have been placed in the urn have been laid to rest and are a thing of the past.
6 The torn pages being picked up from the ground:
The small pieces of paper symbolize that there are words all around us, which in the right context can have enormous consequences for people, for better or worse.
Forklaring af symboler i værket Woman, Life, Freedom opført 5. august. 2023:
Værket er en kommentar til, at det iranske regime vælger at skabe en international diplomatisk krise om ganske få personers afbrænding af koranen, som regimet selv bruger til at legitimere undertrykkelse af millioner af kvinder.
Værket indeholder seks elementer:
1: en koran
2: et rivejern
3: en grøn urne
Rivejernet og performancen omdanner koranen til:
4: et tomt bogomslag
5: en bunke iturevne sider, som lægges i urnen
6: en lille bunke iturevne sider, som ligger på jorden efter performancen
De seks elementer kan ses som symboler:
1 Koranen (der rives på et rivejern):
Det iranske regime har med magt givet sig selv retten til at fortolke koranen. Regimet bruger sin fortolkning af koranen til at undertrykke kvinder.
2 Rivejernet (der river koranen):
Rivejern er en metafor for kvinden og samtidig også et symbol på, at kvinden er forvist til køkkenet i et præstediktatur. Når rivejernet (kvinden) river koranen i stykker, er det en protest mod de skrevne ord, som bliver brugt til at holde hende fanget.
3 Den grønne urne (som de iturevne sider lægges i):
Urnen er symbol på begravelse, død og forglemmelse. I Islamiske lande brænder man ikke lig, men det gør man i Vesten, så urnen er også et symbol på, at i Vesten kan koranens ord ikke have det samme liv og den samme betydning, som den har i et islamisk diktatur. Grøn er Islams farve, og det er også et symbol på Den Grønne Bevægelse i Iran, som en gang kæmpede for reformer i Iran, men blev kvalt af regimet.
4 Det tomme bogomslag:
Et symbol på, at en bog kun er det, vi gør den til. Mennesket er selv herre over, hvad vi putter i en bog, og hvad vi tager ud af den.
5 De iturevne sider, der lægges i urnen:
Ord, som er skilt fra hinanden og skilt fra bogomslaget. Vi ser nu, at det bare er trykte ord på papir. Ordene, der er kommet i urnen, er stedt til hvile og hører fortiden til.
6 De iturevne sider, der samles op fra jorden:
De små papirstykker symboliserer, at der findes ord overalt omkring os, som i den rette sammenhæng kan have enorme konsekvenser for mennesket på godt og på ondt.
‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ – Explanation of symbols