Tao Hui The Dusk of Teheran, 2014
Fine Art Inkjet print on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Ultrasmooth paper
30 x 45 cm (11 3/4 x 17 3/4 in) (unframed)
43,6 x 58,6 x 2 cm (17 3/8 x 23 1/4 x 3/4 in) (framed)
43,6 x 58,6 x 2 cm (17 3/8 x 23 1/4 x 3/4 in) (framed)
Edition of 10 plus 2 artist's proofs
The photograph draws on Tao Hui's film of the same name. Restaging the central scene, it was taken during the production of the film. While the actress in the film is dressed in a bridal gown, the photograph presents the figure in everyday clothes and a loosely draped scarf, alluding perhaps to the headscarf generally worn by Iranian women in public. As in the film, the figure combines references to two disparate cultures, creating a bond between oppressed women across cultural and political divides.
Tao Hui's video The Dusk of Tehran was shot during an artist residency in Tehran. It transposes a heart-rending speech given by the late Hong Kong pop singer Anita Mui into a conversation between a young Iranian actress and her taxi driver. Having gone public about her terminal illness (Mui died of cervical cancer in 2003 at the age of 40), the singer spoke to fans at her final concert of her desire for love and the difficulty of finding it, while dressed in a bridal gown. In Tao’s work, the actress sits in the back of the car, also in a bridal gown, and reprises the Hong Kong star’s words in Persian. Mui went on to perform her hit ‘Sunset Melody’ (1989) after her speech; the female actress in Tao’s re-enactment instead asks the driver to play a Persian song on the radio (‘Why Did You Leave?’, 2014, by Homayoun Shajarian).
Tao Hui's video The Dusk of Tehran was shot during an artist residency in Tehran. It transposes a heart-rending speech given by the late Hong Kong pop singer Anita Mui into a conversation between a young Iranian actress and her taxi driver. Having gone public about her terminal illness (Mui died of cervical cancer in 2003 at the age of 40), the singer spoke to fans at her final concert of her desire for love and the difficulty of finding it, while dressed in a bridal gown. In Tao’s work, the actress sits in the back of the car, also in a bridal gown, and reprises the Hong Kong star’s words in Persian. Mui went on to perform her hit ‘Sunset Melody’ (1989) after her speech; the female actress in Tao’s re-enactment instead asks the driver to play a Persian song on the radio (‘Why Did You Leave?’, 2014, by Homayoun Shajarian).
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