#Iran, in, ou, we, 2022
performance, about 15-20 minutes
Hashtag We, In, Out, Iran is a multidisciplinary work in which I symbolize my suffering in the face of the governmental barbarity towards Iranians who have risen up to end the totalitarian and religious regime of Iran, since September 16, 2022 with the death of Mahsa Amini, following her brutal arrest by the morality police for not wearing the veil properly. Today, these uprisings, recognized as a real revolution, have become famous by the slogan “woman, life, freedom”.Since any form of journalism in Iran is oppressed, it is by taking pictures that citizens bear witness to what is happening for the whole world to see. In this situation, social networks play a crucial role in spreading the voice of these citizens who share photographs and videos under hashtags such as “no to the Islamic Republic in Iran” (#notorepublicislamiciniran).
During the performance, dressed in bloody medical bandages, my whole being, my whole body as if caught in a trance, reacts to these real images of the demonstrations projected on me by externalizing this pain through expressive and brutal gestures.
Zan, zendegi, Azadi, (woman, life, freedom), 2022
Performance 30 minutes
This performance is a reflection on the Iranian revolution “woman, life, freedom” in the context of the mandatory hijab and the regime’s violence against women for their freedom and equality with men. The work is an admiration for the courage of these women who risk their lives to obtain their rights in Iran. Veils of all shapes and colors are made available to the audience who are invited to veil me, during the performance, while I sit on a chair. I reject these veils and each time I take them off and throw them away while shouting “woman, life, freedom”. This reaction becomes stronger and more violent with time.
My body is mine 2021-22
Performance, about 20-25 minutes
during “Egon.a ( Sacred.e )” online video art and performance show, curator Sarah Cassenti (Aile Polina),
Traverse Vidéo art festival, curator Simone Dompeyre, Toulouse, France,
This performance questions the freedom of choice of women in their private and public life and the violation of their rights in some patriarchal and religious societies, still today, as in Iran where the wearing of the hijab is mandatory. Furthermore, this work insists that women must come to know and believe in their rights, as equals with men. With a black pencil in my hand, I write on my body, “my body is mine, your body is yours, …”. It’s a bit like the homework of elementary school children writing multiple times the expressions they have to memorize. It is as if I need to learn that I am the only owner of my body, of my life. It’s as if we don’t know our rights and the limits of others in our intimate and/or social lives.
Bloodshed 2020
Video- performance (Installation), color, sound, 2020, (0.09.16)
Bloodshed is a reaction to the violence and massacre of the Iranian people in November 2019 in several cities of the country during protests against rising fuel prices, corruption and inequality. This protest by Iranians, which began on 15 November 2019 and will extend until 16 July 2020, is known as “Bloody November.” According to the Iran Human Rights Center and Reuters, the state has killed at least 1,500 people in the streets and taken more than 7,000 into custody as they peacefully demonstrated their discontent and desire for a regime change. This video-performance represents my feeling of being drowned in the blood of this barbarity against the Iranian population far from the world’s gaze, when the media does not cover these events and the international political powers do not condemn them due to lack of diplomatic interest.
Je me soigne, tu te soignes, il se soigne, (I heal myself, you heal yourself, he heals imself) 2019
Video performance, color, stereo sound,
This work is a reaction to the violence that humanity is undergoing and the difficulties of healing after painful experiences. Since Iran’s New Year, on 21 March 2019, heavy rains have hit several regions, causing unprecedented flooding in more than 100 cities and villages, amplified by the disastrous management of infrastructure and waterways in recent years. President Rohani, in a complete negation of the problem, shows the gap between the suffering of the people and the politics in charge, by irresponsibly stating that “rain is a gift from god, that he will compensate those who have lost everything”. The population is completely left on their own. To show this, I integrate the archive images into the video of my performance to show the suffering of the Iranians, trapped, wounded by these events and alone in front of their distress.
During this performance, I wrap up my body in medical bands from head to toe. By covering my face, eyes, mouth, and ears, all my senses are attenuated, preventing me from speaking and expressing myself to the point of suffocation. Through this work, I wanted to symbolize the impossibility of certain healings, despite our efforts and hopes.
Je suis un arbre ( I am a tree) 2017
Performance, RMN-Grand Palais, Paris, France, (0.20.07)
Je suis un arbre (I am a tree) addresses and confronts the issue of climatic change and problems caused by humans in the environment and its relationship to our daily lives. With my body covered with black and white images of trees and plants cut and dried, I draw the attention of the viewer by looking into the eyes and tearing little by little the images that cover me as if it’s was my own skin that I tore to give them.
This performance is a commitment against our irresponsibility towards nature, vegetal or animal, evoking its destruction and its disappearance from our planet.
Water, earth, air 2017
Video performance, in loop, color, stereo sound, (0.34.07)
Water, earth, airis a video based on a performance showing a person immersed in muddy water.
The reversal of the symbolism of the three elements earth, water and air (breathing) from the symbol of life into the symbol of death participates in the illustration of hell on earth bringing us to our human condition, constrained within the limits of our body and the limits of our physical world. The temporality of the scene with a slow movement of immersion and emersion of the face evokes suffocation and anguish reinforced by the monochromatic dark image. The throbbing sound helps to plunge the viewer into this disturbing environment. What prompted me to realize the situation and make this performance was the suffering of migrants who, forced to leave their countries and their roots, are confronted with political and natural boundaries. Thousands of refugees died in 2016 at sea or in the cold and the rain etc. The installation consists of the projection of the video in large format in a black room with the sound filling the space. The looping video, giving a dimension of “endless bodily battle”, challenges the impact of limits and constraints on our lives.
Pascale Weber : “Water, earth, air by Parya Vatankhah, a body is immersed in a mixture of mud and water. The body is filmed in a slow movement, it drowns, it disappears, it reappears again…This Franco-Iranian production can also evoke the disappearance of the woman’s body under the black of the veil, unless it is another black and thick liquid: petrol.” Chroniques en mouvements, p.32
Passage (2016)
Video performance, in loop, color, stereo sound, (0.24.09)
The video Passageseeks to explore our journey in life confronted with our limits in space and time. A woman, dressed in white, folded in a fetal position, struggles in a white, cramped space evoking confinement and suffocation. For me, white is the symbol of purity, birth and innocence, but it also represents the hospital universe (including psychiatric one), as much as it can correspond to the color of death (in Iran, the dead are simply draped in a white shroud). The alternating of slow and fast movements emphasizes a feeling of ill-being and the aspiration to free oneself from that situation. The looping video, giving a dimension of “endless bodily battle”, challenges the impact of limits and constraints on our lives.
Not Read (2014)
Video performance, color, stereo Sound, (0.05.14)
Installation : one screen video, earth, crumbles papers
The video Not Readis based on a reflection on the confrontation of memories in the present time under the lens of what has disappeared, what has been accomplished and what remains beyond the boundaries of space and time. This video is created from a performance. It begins with a scene where I sit on the floor in the middle of a dark forest writing my painful memories. Writing becomes a means of externalizing my pains such as the loss of my parents or the experience of exile. This suffering is manifested later, by disordered movements where I throw myself and roll on the ground in the middle of these memories.
The installation consists of a large screen in a dark room, the soil on the ground and the crumble papers which cover all around the scene.
Get Along (2012)
Video performance, Color, stereo sound, (0.06.06). Performance: Enora Keller, Reza Taha
The video Get along withis a reflection on the taboos and weight of traditions and religions in society in terms of their impact in a relationship. The contrast between the movement of two bodies hidden under a white sheet and the rain of blood, as well as the opposition of two spaces, inside and outside, contribute to the staging of the violence of society regarding our intimacy.
Metamorphose 2010
Video performance, two large screens, color, stereo sound (0.05.15),
The video Metamorphoseis which linked to family and geographical mourning, the burial becomes an experience both plastic and psychological highlighted by the video medium.
By this performance, I wanted to live a special experience by burying myself to get closer to the earth, the dead and the other world. I also wanted to test my body, test its resistance abilities and its limits in the face by repeating it several times on the same day. The earth was very heavy, which I could not imagine before. Underground everything is black and cold, very cold and silent.