Pardis Alipour

Biography

Pardis Alipour is a transdisciplinary artist based in Boston, MA. She received a BA in Architecture from the University of Tehran in 2019. She is a recipient of Dean’s Research award (2021), Tisch Fund for Civic Engagement (2021-2022), Montague Travel Grant (2022), Daynard Diversity Microgrant (2021/2022), and more. Her latest series: Holy Objects is selected for the latest edition of the Thresholds journal, a peer-reviewed journal of art and architecture published by MIT Press, which is forthcoming.  

Artist Statement

Through combining Islamic concepts like holiness, piety, and devotion to God with sexually charged objects and materials, I analyze, criticize, and physicalize the stratified experience of living under an Islamic theocracy. Born and raised in Iran about two decades after the Islamic Revolution, I soon learned that when ideology inserts itself in every aspect of life, inevitably, life blends into ideology, too. My work in a variety of mediums explores the tension between concepts and realities that were not designed to meet directly.  

In dialogue with a system that uses bodies ideologically, all my projects relate to the body in some way. I use skin-like silicone, flesh texture, and sex toys to explore the dynamics of control and oppression. Islamic concepts, texts, and socio-political structures based on religion are the foundations of my practice. Alongside doing research on religious studies, I also research Iranian erotica websites and underground porn to find traces of religion in places where it does not belong.  

Website: pardisalipour.com