The Gossiping Aunties

The Gossiping Aunties is an intimate communal experience in which artist Mahsa Attaran
reclaims the gendered term khâleh-zanak-bâzi, transforming it into a space of care, reflection,
and collective understanding.

The experience begins by screening a five-minute short film from her cookbook project, Ja
Oftadan (‘Settle In’). After the film, attendees are invited into a warm ritual of togetherness:
sitting on Persian rugs (no shoes on!), cleaning fresh herbs, preparing a simple Iranian snack —
noon, panir, sabzi — and sharing tea and sweets.
As hands move through the herbs, the conversation naturally shifts into a different kind of
“gossip” — one rooted in honesty, personal storytelling, and thoughtful reflection on the cultural
expectations and labels carried across gender, identity, and lived experience. Participants are
invited to share whatever they carry, whether they arrive as women, men, queer individuals,
immigrants, or anyone navigating these layered identities.

Everyone is welcome to join, listen, and contribute in their own way.