ON | OFF
- 2007
Fiberglass painted in oil
Edition of 10 - 1.00
- Purchase
ON | OFF
One of her most striking and recognisable themes, The On and Off Babies (2007) is Fayyazi's contemplation on the value of human life and the debate surrounding abortion. Islamic law recognizes two foetal stages, before and after the soul has been formed. This boundary represents the point after which abortion is equivalent to slaughter and punishable by law. One of the primary causes of mortality among Iranian women, abortion is often an illegal act performed in secrecy.
Images of foetuses and infants have been central to several of Fayyazi's major installations, including Kismet (2005) which was purchased by Luciano Benetton for his private collection. In On/Off (Abortion), created for the New Art exhibition at Tehran's Museum of Contemporary Art (2002), ten fibreglass foetuses were placed in boxes and suspended from the gallery ceiling. The sound of a heartbeat set the backdrop to the installation, occasionally fading out completely.