خالهِ زَنَک‌بازی با مَهسا عَطّاران

The Gossiping Aunties

A communal experience by Mahsa Attaran

The Gossiping Aunties is an intimate gathering created by artist Mahsa Attaran, who reclaims the gendered Persian term khâleh-zanak-bâzi and transforms it into a space of tenderness, cultural reflection, and shared understanding.

In Farsi, khâleh-zanak-bâzi literally means “auntie-woman-play,” and it has long been used to describe gossiping — often in a way that dismisses women’s conversations as trivial or frivolous. Mahsa turns this assumption on its head.

In this experience, the so-called “auntie chatter” becomes something deeper: a ritual of connection, a circle of listening, and a place where private stories are honoured rather than diminished. What was once a derogatory phrase becomes a site of cultural memory, care, and collective insight.

The experience begins with a screening of a five-minute short film from Mahsa Attaran’s cookbook project, Ja Oftadan (“Settle In”). After the film, attendees are welcomed 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 shifts into a different kind of “gossip” — one rooted in honesty, personal storytelling, and gentle reflection on the cultural expectations and labels carried across gender, identity, and lived experience. Participants are invited to speak from wherever they stand, whether they arrive as women, men, queer individuals, immigrants, or anyone navigating layered identities. Everyone is welcome to listen, share, or simply be present.

Food becomes ritual.
Conversation becomes truth-telling.
Gossip becomes connection.

Date: Sunday, March 1
Time: 2:00 PM
Location: Ball & Socket Arts, Workshop Gallery in Building 3, 493 West Main Street, Cheshire, CT 06410

Recommended Donation: $25 (pay what you can)
RSVP Required.

Workshop is limited to 16 participants, so be sure to register now. Registration is FREE (suggested donation of $25 per person supports programs like this one, if you would like to contribute).

*** please note this Workshop will take place in the Workshop Gallery in Building 3 at Ball & Socket Arts. 

About the Artist: 

Mahsa Attaran is an Iranian-born visual artist, photographer, and educator whose work explores culture, gender, and belonging through memory, exile, and domestic archives. Working across photography, video, installation, and conceptual wearables, she often uses the archive to preserve and reframe women’s histories. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Iranian Artists Forum, Iranian Art Museum, Windsor Art Center, and Hartford Theatreworks, and has been featured in Hyperallergic.

As an Iranian woman in exile, Attaran is committed to witnessing and refusing silence in the face of political violence and human rights abuses. She also leads workshops and talks that encourage critical engagement with social justice, memory, and responsibility.

Attaran holds an MFA in Studio Art from the University of Connecticut and teaches on the Visual Arts faculty at The Loomis Chaffee School.

Her work is on view in the Workshop Gallery at Ball & Socket Arts from Feb. 13th to March 15th, 2026. Details on the exhibition here.