The Arab Image Foundation photographic archive in Beirut houses collections of hand-colored Iranian photographs from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. When artist Afrang Nordlöf Malekian digitized and documented these images, he noted that peoples faces were meticulously retouched in a manner similar to his contemporary Iranian passport picture. The process had yielded smooth and saturated images with shades of magenta, blue, and red. In collaboration with art historian Nour Helou, whose Lebanese passport photograph had been subjected to the same type of editing, Nordlöf Malekian initiated an exploration of Southwest Asian and North African beauty standards. Through archival research, they were able to trace these aesthetics back to an archetype: a magnificent sun – both male and female, with a nose, a small mouth, and a thin mustache – radiating from behind a lion. An inseparable pair in the depths of the universe: the sun in the house of Leo.
The Tale of the (Fe)Male Sun begins with the story of how a little star in the cosmos transformed into an almighty sun. In their light, nonbinary gender expressions in painting, music, and dance flourished, nurtured by the desire of royals and artists. But over time, the gender-transcending sun came to be eclipsed by a new, faceless sun.
Now in the shadows, but not forgotten, the (fe)male sun occasionally sneaks out from behind the faceless sun, reminding us of their former glory. The Tale of the (Fe)Male Sun tells the story of the rise and fall of hierarchical beauty standards through an exploration of mythologies, anecdotes, history, Qajar paintings, hand-colored photographs, with cassette and vinyl covers – in the hope that one day, we will greet this sun again, like an old friend shining by our side.