Lecture: More powerful than two Cleopatras 

In this lecture, Paris-based Ani Khatchikian and Anahita Delcorde will take us on a 10-year on-going research about noses. What started as an art history and cultural studies dissertation, the research evolved into a cathartic quest to understand our difficult relationship with our noses, perceived as signs of unsolved foreignness and alterity by others. This lecture will delve into the history of the visual representation of the nose, and its significance in regards to today’s beauty norms and standards. How was the norm of the straight and small nose established, and which art historical traditions of body representation can it be traced back to? What are the consequences of such representations in WANA regions and diasporas? This lecture aims to deconstruct the idea of “atypical” noses and questions the power structures at play in these established representations, especially in digital spaces.