BITA'S DOWRY
(2015)
series of 32 photographs with audio captions
This series of photographs feature some of the objects that the Bita’s Iranian grandmother gathered for her as a dowry. Most of the objects were bought during her childhood, which coincided with Iran-Iraq war. The war from 1980 to 1988 was a time of extreme poverty in Iran, but despite the scarcity of resources, Bita’s grandmother continued to put these objects together to secure her future. The poor quality of the objects; which many of them are not utile anymore, portraits the economic situation of the time. The project reflects on the common attitude of gathering, and saving for the future in the generation who experienced the war on one hand, and the past generation’s idea of marriage and the significance of a dowry on the other hand. The artist has highlighted this contrast by photographing the outdated items in the style of attractive commercial images -in contrast with the appearance of the objects themselves. The accompanying audio recordings feature her grandmother’s descriptions of the items and reasons for including them in her collection.
