“First Night” is a critique of gender-biased stereotypes across the Caucasus region that infiltrates and dictates the social life in these countries. Central to these codes of behavior is female chastity, often leading to extreme measures such as Hymenoplasty (the surgical repair of a vaginal membrane) in order to conceal the sexual experiences of a woman. In this work Ibrahimova performs squats to reenact a common practice for testing against this intervention.
In the video “Naftalan” the artist tries to scrap off the oil from her body, musing on the resource’s overwhelming significance in framing the collective unconscious of the country.
“Red Carpet” the red carpet in the hallway of a refugee dormitory in an evening dress. Due to the ongoing military conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia over a million refugees left their homes and found shelter wherever they could at the time, including Soviet-inherited dormitories. The overall atmosphere of those dormitories is obviously that of extreme poverty, which is an over juxtaposition with the lush appearance of the city and the image our country strives to project as a whole