Like Everyday

SHADI GHADIRIAN’S Like Everyday is a conceptual photographic series that uses everyday domestic objects to comment on the routine roles often assigned to women in society. Created in 2000–2001, the work grew from the artist’s own experience after marriage and the domestic tools she received — irons, frying pans, kettles, and other utensils — which she then used as masks covering the faces of veiled female figures.

In these images the objects — humorous, absurd, and familiar — become more than props: they are symbols of the repetitive daily labor and stereotypes that can define women’s identities. What might seem like a playful visual pun also highlights how complex, multifaceted individuals are often reduced to narrow cultural roles, especially within traditional expectations of domesticity.

By substituting the woman’s face with a household implement, Ghadirian creates a striking visual metaphor for how female identity can be overshadowed by routine and societal assumptions. At the same time, the Like Everyday series challenges these reductive views with wit and irony, revealing a critical engagement with tradition, modernity, and the lived realities of women that resonates far beyond its Iranian context.