Iron undergarments by

Kubra Khademi
An essay by Junita Thiessen

Art (noun)
The
expression
or
application of human
creative
skill,
and
imagination, typically in
a visual form. Such as:
painting or sculpture,
producing works to be
appreciated primarily for
their
beauty
or
emotional power.

Art is an intrinsic and integral part of

society.

Without

art

we

would

not

have

massive, beautiful buildings that scrape the

sky, we would not have the fashionable clothes

Social justice
(noun)
Justice in terms of
the distribution of
wealth,
opportunities, and
privileges within a
society.
"Individuality gives
way to the struggle
for social justice"
.

on our backs, and we would not have a way to

express our feelings in a concrete way.
Social justice is the want and fight for equal
opportunity for anyone, whether they be black,
woman, transgender, bisexual, lower class, upperclass, white, straight, man or child. It is the want
of equality, tolerance and freedom for all.

People use art as a tool of social justice. Art has a way of reaching out
and touching people in a way that lengthy, drawn out, wordy essays do not.
Art is accessible. Art transcends language, ethnicity, age, education, social
justice, sexuality, and gender. Art does not discriminate. Most anyone with
some thought and some questioning can discover the artists or their own
interpretation of an art piece.
Art becomes a tool of social justice when it is used to express distress
or calls for change in society. An example of social justice in art can be the
use of graffiti to speak out about a social issue. In the picture on the left is
shown an example of an Egyptian woman speaking out on street harassment, the
text reads no harassment! in Arabic. This was an attempt to criticise an event that

had

happened

locally,

where

woman

wearing a fitted pink sweater and trousers,

(much like the young womans ensemble in
the graffiti) was assaulted verbally by male
students as she walked through campus,
some even pulling at her clothes. There was much public outcry when the head of
her university came out to suggest that her inappropriate clothing was to blame
for the harassment.
In the art piece that is the focus of this essay, it also voices objection towards
street harassment. Kubra Khademi was inspired to create after she was harassed in
the busy streets of Kabul. She screamed and instead of the surrounding crowd
supporting her, the crowd turned on her, telling her to be quiet unless she enjoyed it
and calling her foul names. The incident brought her back to her childhood when
she had been sexually harassed as well. She was only four or five when a man
grabbed at her privates and chest and when she screamed she was silenced by
people surrounding her.
Kubra says she remembers wishing to herself that she had underwear made
of metal and so, when she was harassed again this brought back to mind her
thoughts as a childinspiring her to make her wish come true. After spending time
creating the design she employed a quiet metal worker who made stoves as his
profession. She worked alongside him diligently making sure it was to her design.
After the piece was completed, she had plans to walk the streets of Kabul for
no longer than 10 minutes and see the reaction. However, the reaction was so
verbally violent that she instead was forced to stop just before the 8 minute mark.

Men and women alike screamed obscenities and questions of her morality at her.
People grabbed at her which she remarked at with well, I didnt feel anything so
the underwear worked! When videos of her performance were posted online, the
backlash was once again violent. People threatened her life and were so vocal she
was forced into hiding.
Khademis purpose in creating this piece and performance was, like many art
pieces, meant to portray a message. By creating metal armour in the female form,
she portrays the sexualised image that many men wish for or want to see women
as. The focus is on her breasts and other sexual ass etts. However, because it is
made of metal she is shielding herself from their gaze and attacks. Her message is
that she feels so unsafe that she feels as if she must shield herself, however no one
should feel this way.
Kubras work is an excellent example of art being used for social justice as
she fights for and vocalizes her want and need to feel safe from attack based on her
gender.