This Is Not Just Fabric

A piece of fabric is never just a piece of fabric. It is a boundary, a weapon, a symbol, a cage. It is a tool of control, a marker of identity, a battleground for power. When Mahsa Amini was killed for not wearing her hijab “properly,” the world was reminded once again that women’s bodies are not their own. They are policed, politicized, and commodified. They are reduced to objects of consumption, morality, and honor.In this work, a piece of fabric is thrown randomly, captured in three different photographs. It is not arranged, not controlled, not dictated by anyone. It exists freely, yet its meaning is heavy with the weight of history, culture, and violence. The fabric becomes a metaphor for the ways in which women’s bodies are entangled in systems of power—religious, patriarchal, capitalist. It is a veil, a flag, a shroud. It is a symbol of both liberation and imprisonment, depending on who wields it.
Why fabric? Because fabric is intimate. It touches the skin, the body, the self. It is both personal and political. In some places, it is forced upon women as a symbol of modesty, control, or tradition. In others, it is stripped away, commodified, and sold as a product of desire. In both cases, women’s bodies are not their own. They are shaped, covered, uncovered, and judged by systems that claim ownership over them.This work is a protest against the erasure of women’s autonomy. It is a reminder that the fabric—whether it is a hijab, a miniskirt, or a burqa—is not the issue. The issue is the systems that use it to control, to punish, to exploit. The issue is the belief that women’s bodies are public property, subject to the whims of morality, religion, or capitalism.The three photographs capture the fabric in motion, in flux. It is not static, not fixed, not obedient. It resists. It floats, it falls, it twists. It cannot be contained. In this, it mirrors the resilience of women who fight against these systems every day. Women who are told to cover up or strip down, to be modest or desirable, to obey or be punished. Women who, despite it all, continue to resist, to exist, to demand their freedom.
This is not just fabric. This is a call to action. It is a demand to see the systems that use fabric—and women’s bodies—as tools of control. It is a demand to dismantle these systems, to return autonomy to women, to recognize that their bodies are their own. No piece of fabric, no law, no tradition, no market should have the power to dictate how a woman exists in the world.This work is for Mahsa Amini, for the women of Iran, for the women of my country, and for women everywhere who are fighting for their right to exist freely. It is a reminder that the struggle is not about fabric. It is about freedom.