The V&A Parasol Foundation Women in Photography project presents the first in a series of artist conversations, emphasising its commitment to supporting female practitioners and championing contemporary photography.
Join artist Hoda Afshar in conversation on her photographic practice and interests in migration and diasporic culture; themes which are explored in her new publication Speak The Wind (MACK, 2021). Journeying through the Strait of Hormuz off the southern coast of Iran, Afshar encounters the Zār— a spirit-wind that possesses peoples’ bodies, according to local beliefs. Through her extraordinary landscapes, the people, and their rituals, Afshar attempts to picture the wind and its psychic entanglements, forming a visible record of the invisible. Afshar, an Iranian artist now living and working in Australia, will be in dialogue with Shoair Mavlian, Director of Photoworks, an international arts platform providing opportunities for artists and audiences since 1995, and the only organisation with a national remit for photography in England.
Thursday 21 July
18:15 BST
Hochhauser Auditorium
Sackler Centre, V&A
South Kensington
Book your seat here.
About Speak The Wind
On the islands in the Strait of Hormuz, off the southern coast of Iran, there is a common belief that the winds can possess a person, bringing illness and disease. The existence of similar convictions in some African countries suggests that the cult may have been brought to Iran from southeast Africa through the Arab slave trade. This history is rarely spoken about but these winds and the traces they have left on the islands and their inhabitants are the touchstone for Hoda Afshar's Speak The Wind. Through her subtle and perceptive images of the extraordinary landscapes, the people and their rituals, Afshar's beautiful and complex book attempts to picture the wind and its psychic entanglements, to form a visible record of the invisible.
Find out more and order copies here.
