جودیت آواز میخواند | Judith is singing (after Doré)
Body and Sound: On André Werner’s Triptych “Judith is singing”
André Werner’s triptych “Judith is singing” connects an icon of European art history with the freedom struggle of Iranian women. The centerpiece of the work is “Judith is singing (after Doré) I” (2026), a direct visual response to Gustave Doré’s famous woodcut Judith showing the head of Holofernes. Where the historical model couples the moment of triumph with a cruel act of violence, Werner’s reinterpretation breaks with this logic, countering the tyrannicide with an image of living resistance.
The familiar composition is transposed to a dusty suburb of modern-day Tehran. Yet, instead of the severed head of a ruler, this Judith holds up her own face—unveiled, her loose hair blowing in the wind, as she sings from the back of her throat with passionate intensity. This scene is flanked by the works “Judith is singing I” and “Judith is singing II”, which expand the motif into a broader context and detach themselves from the strict pictorial template. As Fine Art prints on Baryta paper, the portraits acquire an almost tangible, haptic depth.
The political dimension of these images unfolds through their pure sensuality. Under a theocratic order that brutally suppresses both uncovered hair and any public singing by women, the mere act of singing becomes subversive. Werner’s Judith figures need no weapons to shake a patriarchal system. Their liberation takes place in the here and now: non-violent, unyielding, and carried by the sheer, untamed presence of their own voices.
Matou de Marsalle
جودیت آواز میخواند. | Judith is singing I
جودیت آواز میخواند. | Judith is singing II
