How do you dance when music is banned? Then you create the rhythm yourself…
How do you dance when that is also prohibited? Then you dance far from prying eyes…
How do you express yourself when all forms of expression are forbidden?
Then you go to remote places, such as deserts *.
This is exactly what Klaartje Lambrechts experienced. She travelled to Iran repeatedly between 2014 and 2019, and met an “incredibly generous people, in a beautiful country”. But a country that is strictly governed and suffers under severe repression. People learn to live in extreme conditions; they are creative: what is not explicitly forbidden is allowed… A grey area, a twilight zone hence the title Shafagh, the Farsi word for twilight (or dawn).
During her travels, she meets dancers such as Masoumeh and Alireza, and an artistic project was shaped. They travelled to remote areas, including the Lut Desert (Dasht-e Lut), also known for its wild, breathtaking landscapes, to take dance photographs. Dance photography: it seems a bit of a contradiction in terms. Dance thrives on movement, on motion, on the illusion of lightness and photography freezes the moment, halts movement.
Klaartje Lambrechts’ series possesses great symbolic power. She and the dancers choose to use metre-long multicoloured cloths, and not merely for aesthetic reasons. They restrain the power of the movement, yet at the same time they make that strength and trajectory visible: it seems as though they symbolise the oppression of the Iranian people. The drapery shapes the bodies, but also distorts them: in this way, they resemble the capricious forms of the landscape, and become one with it. The cloths conceal the dancers from the viewer’s gaze, for the repressive state robs you of your individuality; the dancers cannot be identified. Yet the performance itself is an act of resistance, a reclaiming of personal expression.
We need not argue that this series is of particular topical relevance. We focus all our attention on the warring parties and their organised or unpredictable madness, on the expanding effects of the war on our economy and our fuel prices. And at the same time, we once again forget or ignore the Iranian people. A people who are being oppressed and murdered, and who may in the near future have to contend with a regime that will emerge from the conflict (morally) strengthened.
This series was first partially shown in 2020, this second instalment takes us deeper into the story with unseen images. One of the dance performers, Masoumeh Jalalieh, will be present for a live performance and artist talk more informations can be found at the end of the contribution.
Photographer Klaartje Lambrechts (1976) lives and works in Antwerp. She had a career in leading functions in the high profiled Belgian fashion industry. Now she is behind the camera for fashion & lifestyle shoots which are published in the national & international press. Her professional & personal work was shown at several venues, and were primed with several international awards.
For the conclusion, I gladly leave the floor to dancer Masoumeh Jalalieh:
In these turbulent times, as conflict and repression continue to shape many parts of the world, the act of creating and sharing art becomes even more meaningful. By sharing the personal stories behind the photographs through conversation, movement, and reflection we create a space where artistic expression can remain alive, where performers and artists can share their voices, and where dialogue, hope, and connection can continue to exist. – Masoumeh Jalalieh
John Devos
* The choice to live in freedom in the desert was also seen in the work of the Iranian documentary photographer Parisa Azadi
Pedrami Gallery
Verbindingsdok-Westkaai 10, 2000 Antwerpen
17.04 – 24.05, Friday – Sunday: 1 pm – 5 pm (or by appointment)
The work of Klaartje Lambrechts is to be seen at the booth of Pedrami at Art Brussels, 23—26.04.26 Brussels Expo
Artist talk & book presentation (with dedication session) of SHAFAGH with Masoumeh Jalalieh in Museum KMSKA on 14.05 at 7/30pm
Book launch (with dedication) & performance Carpet of Time — 1974 Movements of Masoumeh Jalalieh at MASBox (next to Mas) at 8pm – free entry.
The book:
SHAFAGH
112 pages, sewn & glued softcover, first edition 200 copies, €40 –
it contains images of the exhibition together with correspondence and polaroids that sheds light on the story of friendship, trust and shared experiences of the photographer and the dancers.
