Typography and Lettering Design for The Sleep of Reason
Exhibited at 009821 Projects | 22 September – 9 October 2023, Tehran, Iran

As the typography and lettering artist for The Sleep of Reason, Elahe Panahi developed a visual language in direct dialogue with the exhibition’s conceptual framework. Her involvement emerged from a sustained engagement with women’s rights and the social contradictions imposed on women within contemporary societies, specifically in Iran.

The project examines the paradox between the Quranic principle of non-compulsion in religion and the institutional imposition of the hijab. Central to the work is the Quranic verse “La ikraha fi ad-din” (“There is no compulsion in religion”), which Panahi uses to question the gap between theological teachings and the sociopolitical regulation of the female body.

In this context, typography is employed not as a decorative element, but as a critical medium for inquiry
into the power structures that shape identity, freedom, and the female voice. Through layered visual articulation, the work reflects the ongoing tension between ideology and lived reality.

With: MasoumehMohtadi.com