Abstract
dc:description.abstract“Immortal Tulips” is my graduation show at the Fifth Parallel Gallery. From November 6th to November 17th, 2023, I will exhibit the results of my Master of Fine Arts program. In this exhibition, I present five pieces, including “Blood Rain,” “As Gentle as Death,” “Bloody November – آبان خونین ” “One Step Forward,” and “Ayatollah’s Office.” By presenting a variety of installations in this exhibition, using the three simple motifs of tulips, nooses, and threads, I create an atmosphere to immerse the audience in the emotions I feel regarding my country’s situation. I have felt desperation, agony, and sorrow because of the relentless rain of grief and bitter news of the regime's cruelty. The Islamic Republic regime committed horrific crimes and took thousands of lives of freedom fighters, along with taking the freedom and happiness of a great many of Iranians, including me. In the past, I defined my art as political activism or part of the resistance movement, but eventually, I realized that was not true because I am outside of Iran's border and only a far witness to what is happening to my homeland; so, my work has become more a reflection of my emotions about what is happening in my homeland. My goal is to embody my different emotions, emotions such as admiration of courage, regret, loss, fear, suffocation, bitterness about an atmosphere of terror and insecurity, sorrow of bombardment of horrific events, and distress about an uncertain future. My method is to create a visual translation of these emotions through metaphors. I use Persian poetry as a bridge between abstract emotions and visual language, and I borrow the tulip from that poetry as my predominant motif. All the elements of "Immortal Tulips" are metaphors for the current conditions of oppression and murder of people in Iran by the governing regime and its police and militia. The colour red is an obvious reference to blood. The tulips stand in for the bodies of the dead, martyrs who have been killed because of their belief in freedom and resistance to the Regime. The overall darkness within the gallery represents political suffocation. Nooses represent systematic brutality, and the red threads are evocative of blood drops falling. "Immortal Tulips" is my way of expressing sorrow and anger about the human rights violations inflicted on the Iranian protestors, including myself. I share this grief to build sympathy and understanding among Canadian audiences and try to be a voice for the courageous Iranian protestors who are risking their lives for liberty. Annette Wieviorka, a French specialist in the Holocaust and the history of the Jewish people, acknowledges that political testimony can be transformed “into a work of art” if one experiences suffering inflicted by an oppressive regime. (Kia Lindroos, Frank Möller 2017, 36)1 As far as my personal experience goes, I was affected by general injustice and oppression during the 27 years I lived under the Islamic Republic regime. Now that I have left, I am a witness, and my art is a narration of my suffering in those years and of my witnessing how Iranian protestors are still suffering in Iran from brutality that is even worse than I experienced.
Degree
thesis:*- Name thesis:degree_name
- Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
- Level thesis:degree_level
- Master's
- Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
- Visual Arts
- Grantor dc:publisher
- Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research, University of Regina
- Year dc:date.issued
- 2023
Author and committee
dc:creator, dc:contributor.*- Author dc:creator
-
- Aghaaminiha, Shamim
- Advisor dc:contributor.advisor
-
- Chambers, Ruth
- Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
-
- Fay, Holly
- Whalley, Sean
Rights
- Language dc:language.iso
- en
Identifiers
dc:identifier.*- OAI identifier oai:identifier
- oai:uregina.scholaris.ca:10294/16454