Semiotic Analysis of Muslim Women's Social Discourse in the Transformations of Contemporary Iranian Miniature

The subject of women in contemporary Iranian miniature has been of interest to contemporary painters, and the social discourse of Muslim women has influenced its depiction. Comparing the themes of contemporary Iranian miniature with the social roles of women in contemporary Iranian history shows that there were joint concepts in the social role of women in Islamic culture and the point of view of painters. The spiritual journey of women, women and the family (the role of mother and nurturer of the human race, fertility and childbearing, and the role of spouse), women's hejab in society, the role of women in Islamic Jahad, and the scientific role of women are topics that have been shaped under the influence of the social discourse of Muslim women in miniature. This article aims to describe and semiotically analyze the transformations in the depiction of women's social action in contemporary Iranian miniature, and to answer this question: What were the effects of the social discourse of Muslim women on the visual transformations of contemporary Iranian miniature, and how did it emerge? This research first explains the social discourse of Muslim women in Iran. Then, it describes the visual elements of contemporary Iranian miniature with the theme of women's social role, then analyzes it semiotically, and finally determines the signifiers of each of these signs or visual elements. In studying the influence of social discourses on miniature works, the form and content of these works are examined, and the quality of their Transformations is analyzed with the semiotic approach in creating symbolic and cryptic visual elements as representations of Iranian society. This research is an explanation of the social discourse of Muslim women's role in the Transformations of contemporary Iranian miniature. This discourse has its roots in Islamic culture, and has been influenced by Shiite culture in Iran, and has been influential in various cultural fields, including contemporary Iranian miniature. The purpose of this research is to introduce this discourse and analyze the Transformations in contemporary Iranian miniature under the influence of the aforesaid discourse. Since it is impossible to fully understand the Transformations in contemporary miniature and even the tradition of Iranian miniature without paying attention to this issue, conducting such research seems necessary. The research method in this article is semiotics, a set of qualitative methods with a discourse-critical semiotic approach, and library studies and image reading to collect information. The results of this article show that the social discourse of Muslim women as a social factor has caused contemporary Iranian miniature to use visual elements on the subject of women's social action, which represent the values of Islamic and Shiite culture regarding women. These visual elements evoke the divine essence of women in Islamic society, the values of women in the role of mothers, the scientific role of women, and their role in Islamic jihad. The focal point of the effects of the social discourse of Muslim women on contemporary Iranian miniature is the introduction of the high status of women in Iranian Islamic culture.