Muxe

Gender without borders? 

Are there places you may or may not be welcome? How about the football stadium, the yoga school and the toilets, out on the street or in rooms in your home? In addition to your position in society, your wealth or knowledge, gender determines where you’re allowed to be, or more figuratively, the space that you take or are given.  

The exhibition will ask you the question:

Gender without borders?

Tea house for men 

This image can be seen in the exhibition. It is an Iranian tea house, only for men. They talk, drink coffee and tea, smoke a water pipe and listen to a performance by a professional story teller, who is standing in the middle. Older men are recognizable by their beards.  

Photo credit: Teheran, Iran; Ahmad Khalili (1943-2008); 2002 
Theehuis

The world through a screen 

This is a mashrabiya, a sort of window or screen that is often found in the Arab world. Women who are sitting inside can look out through the lattice but cannot themselves be seen from outside. The lattice work window provides shade and ventilation for the residents.   

Photo credit: Egypt; c. 1960 
Afgeschermde wereld