Analysis of Third Space Possibility in Iranian Contemporary Painting Based on the Homi K. Bhabha `s Post-Colonial Thoughts

Homi K. Bhabha is a Professor of English and American Literature and Language, and one of the most important figures in contemporary post-colonial studies who has developed a number of the field's neologisms and key concepts, such as hybridity, mimicry, difference, and ambivalence which describe ways in which colonized people have resisted the power of the colonizer. The term ‘hybridity’ has been most recently associated with the work of Bhabha, whose analysis of colonizer/colonized relations stresses their interdependence and the mutual construction of their subjectivities. Bhabha contends that all cultural statements and systems are constructed in a space that he calls the ‘Third Space of enunciation’ which makes the claim to a hierarchical ‘purity’ of cultures untenably. For him, the recognition of this ambivalent space of cultural identity may help us to overcome the exoticism of cultural diversity in favor of the recognition of an empowering hybridity. It is significant that the productive capacities of this Third Space have a colonial or postcolonial provenance. Descending willingness into that alien territory may open the way to conceptualizing an international culture, based not on the exoticism of multiculturalism or the diversity of cultures, but on the inscription and articulation of culture’s hybridity. It is the ‘in-between’ space that carries the burden and meaning of culture, and this is what makes the notion of hybridity so important. Homi Bhabha has developed his concept of hybridity from literary and cultural theories to describe the construction of culture and identity within conditions of colonial antagonism and inequity. For Bhabha, hybridity is the process by which the colonial governing authority undertakes to translate the identity of the colonized within a singular universal framework. As used in horticulture, the term refers to the cross-breeding of two species by grafting or cross-pollination to form a third, ‘hybrid’ species. By generalizing this theory into different aspects, hybridization can be studied in different spaces. For example, in the field of art, the effects of different cultures on the artwork of other cultures can be examined. This study examines the impact of European elements on Iran’s painting. The result of this research indicates that the third Space and Hybridity of Bhabha have been formed in contemporary Iranian painting, but through a process. The Qajar artistic style, like the Timurid school centuries before that, had its origins outside the historical period from which it derives its name. It was in the late Safavid period that a thoroughgoing Europeanized style began to oust the old native traditions, and by the beginning of the 12th/18th century the new style was completely dominant. The works were only mimicry of Iranian and European elements, whether consciously or unknowingly, they could not create the third space and hybridity, but it can be the beginning of this process. The theme and content, in terms of which the elements of previous Iranian painting have been inherited from their predecessors, are more evident in Coffee House paintings. But, the primitive usages of space, dimension and perspectives as European elements can be seen here. Kamal Al-Molk’s school was the culmination of a trend towards the adaptation of a European naturalistic style in Persian art, which led to the emergence of a Euro-Persian style in Iran. This approach began to take shape during the latter half of the 17th century. In this style, the subject with all the details was shown as a photo. Furthermore, in this style, European elements such as the three-dimensional space and perspective are dominant. Therefore, in these two styles, Coffee House painting and Kamal Al-Molk’s school, one element dominates another element, and therefore the third space is not formed. The term “Saqqā-Qāna” was initially applied to the works of artists, both in painting and sculpture, who used already existing elements from votive Shiite art in their own modern works. It gradually came to be applied more widely to various forms of modern Persian painting and sculpture that used traditional-decorative elements. The Saqqā-Qāna movement in the sixties tried to found and establish a “national” or “Iranian” school of art. On the other hand the attention was paid to modernism. The general perception was based on the belief that the artists could achieve a “modern-traditional” synthesis that included an Iranian identity and character. So, in this style the formation of the third space is evident. Therefore, the process of formation of the third space is evident in four stages in contemporary Iranian painting: Qajar-European style, the start point, Coffee House style and Kamal Al-Molk’s style are respectively the domination of Iranian and European elements and finally its formation in Saqqā-Qāna school.