This paper-presentation addresses the existing problematic structures and discriminative borders which are embedded both in academic spaces and in everyday life in Finnish society, and for non-Western people who are academic, artist and feminist-fighters. This paper will bring up unspoken neutralized and problematic matters which constantly create strong (in)-visible borders and walls for non-Westerners to be part of Western societies, paying attention to the existing borders after migration. Borders which are created strongly around the differences, geographical background, class and race. By bringing examples on several recent cases I further write on vulnerability, what realities exist and what can be done. Specifically, what can contemporary art do to bring change in society by challenging the problematic borders and norms (both physical and non-physical). Being an Iranian woman, migrated to Finland seven years ago and understanding Middle-Eastern cultural and traditional ways of being, through different artistic projects I have been investigating the impacts of growing nationalism, sociocultural and geopolitical conditions on one’s body and mind, ways of being and everyday life. So that social, racial and cultural differences create (in)-visible blocks for individuals prevent them from living a normal life. I believe by means of art one can create communication-dialogue between people in society where it is under constant changes based on global or national forces.

My artistic work and research is focused on representation and livelihood of Middle Eastern women (including myself) after migration to Finland. In my research, I am focused on doing (decolonizing) more than theorizing, yet it is concentrated on intersectional feminism and its discourse together with the postcolonial theory. Main questions of the research are: How female bodies become politicized in society and in contemporary art? What is the role of contemporary art in addressing complex/difficult subjects in society and what methods it employs to address/represent concepts such as gender/cultural identity? How to tackle stereotypical, discriminative and problematic representations/perceptions by means of contemporary art and its narratives in public place? Whose voice is being heard in society and through contemporary art and its representations?

Sepideh Rahaa (1981, Iran) is a multidisciplinary artist and researcher based in Helsinki. She is one of the collective members and founders of Third Space (in Helsinki) which is a cross border transcultural collective that seeks to erase the invisible lines that separate us. In her current practice, she is focused on womanhood and resistance, migration and representation. Currently in her doctoral studies at Aalto University she investigates concept of identity and its hybridity with a critical and analytic view on representation, how female bodies become politicized in society and in contemporary art. In her research and work, she aims to initiate methods within contemporary art to bridge from individual perception to the social perception by creating spaces for dialogue. Body and its performative presence through time and space are significant elements of her works where she combines memory, sense of belonging and personal narrations of everyday life together.  

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I would like to have conversational presentation.