According to Iraqi photographer Sama Al-Shaibi, photography studios in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were mainly run by Western “orientalist” photographers. The photos taken by these Western photographers often showed Eastern women carrying water containers on their heads. In response to this, Al-Shaibi created a series aimed at changing this unfair representation by exaggerating the objects placed on the subjects’ heads.
I used this series as the starting point for my own work to show the mental and physical struggles of Iranian women from my personal perspective. I chose this photo series because, as a child in Iran, I saw women carrying their purchases and other things on their heads. The idea that this physical burden has now turned into a mental burden caught my attention. To explore how the West sees the Eastern woman, I used artificial intelligence, a tool created by the West.
