هار Hār: „Here’s My Mourning Routine“
„Here’s My Mourning Routine“ is a transmedia installation inspired by the ongoing events in Iran, including the regime’s murderous crimes and the resistance of people from different nations in Iran, both within and outside of the borders. This resistance is not only in the form of taking to the streets, but also singing anthems, doing street arts, graffiti, murals, performances etc. As an Iranian person in diaspora, I spend most of my time watching and listening to the documented events in Iran or about Iran through cyberspace, and this installation is an interpretation of my life and the lives of many more, voyeurs, distant, mourning in the darkness.
Context
In September 2022, Iran had undergone nationwide protests to demonstrate its anger toward the policies of the Iranian regime, regarding the lack of autonomy over women’s bodies (compulsory hijab). Many lives have been taken by the regime’s oppressors and many ended up in prisons or have been arrested without a clear answer on their whereabouts and their health situation. This has led to global movements on the internet, in memory of the lost lives of martyrs of the revolution, and against oblivion.
Inspiration
During the process of writing my thesis, I got very involved with the concept of carpets, their patterns, colors, looming, weaving, their history, and their relationship to me as a woman and to my country Iran. then I started researching artists who create art installations using carpet as their medium. Michel Foucault introduces the carpet as a Heterotopia, presenting a utopia in a small parcel of the world. Carpet weaving is an ancient art in Iran, solely created by women, and in this heterotopia, women are weaving their dream of breaking free out of the cage of patriarchy and oppression.
