Gisou-daar 2

About the Artwork

Gisou-daar In Farsi vocabulary Gisou refers to a woman"s long hair, and the expression Gisou-daar can be a metaphor for long hair. However, Daar alone in Farsi vocabulary means the post or the upright on which a rope is tied for carrying out a hanging sentence, in short the gallows. Daar also has other meaning in Farsi vocabulary like a tree or a house. Gisou plays an important and effective role in Farsi classical literature. It has come to replace many words and expressions in metaphor and allegory. Moreover, in popular/ folklore literature, many women's qualities and characteristics are referred to using the word Gisou. An unruly, mutinous woman would show off her Gisou, A shameless infamous woman would be referred to as Gisou-Borideh (cutting her hair short, is a show of courage) and wise women would be called Gisou-Sefid (meaning someone having white hair) thus covering all acts in which women are somehow the main subjects and making Gisou an important and somewhat dangerous object. A beautiful, glamorous and at the same time a disagreeable and outrageous object that needed to be covered in order to cover women's personal virtues and acts. In Iranian history many women have exhibited their hair or cut it to some extent in order to be heard. The mutiny of these women and their non-obedience has caused many of them to face the gallows, thus making the expression Gisou-daar very metaphorical. The Gisou takes them to the gallows (The Daar) which is in fact being woven by The Gisou itself. The Gisou is indeed like the roots of the tree of life which germinates and grows from where it is cut off, from where the comets fall onto the earth everyday. P.S. : In Ottoman vocabulary "Najm-e-Gisoudaar" is the comet. English translation by Afshin Hashemi