An endless view of a dimension,
which demonstrate a deep point of existence, silently and quietly.
The deep suffering demonstration is shared with others, with all and whole.
The soul of mankind comes out of history and looks at us closely, suffers and then goes back, crying in history.
Raha Rastifard & Mehran Tizkar
‘‘Go for a walk, if it is not too dark. Get some fresh air, try to smile. Say something kind’’.
by Hafez
I have faith in equality, and I believe in a world without violence. In this Project, I have symbolised and used my body as a medium to fight against violence and war.
The suspended bodyparts are in a constant conversation not only with their audiences but with each other as well, to remind us of the causes and effects of ongoing violences.
Book of Longing, 2014
The Mix-Media series "Book of Longing“ is a visual interpretation of Hafez‘ poetry.
The pictures don‘t illustrate but interpret the verses.
They create a visual, poetic dimension that mirrors the artist‘s emotions and her understanding of the ancient lines of Hafez poetry.
Hafez (1325/26-89/90) was a Persian poet and Sufi.
To this day, many Persians knowing his poems by heart and his verses are widely read, recited and loved.
In this series, Rastifard has been involved in looking at history through her own desires, her own needs and in a substantial way to look at her past, how this history has created a type for her and a type in her; the heroines that remain obscure and those which find a place in the western system.
Somewhere in-between Rastifard suggests that the “I” can be found.
The series “I & ...” is about this relationship with these women that she depicts as the I, as part of her own body and the self.
It explores their relationship as part of her identity.
Shaheen Merali
In collaboration with Mehran Tizkar
“The photo project Tuba shows in eight light boxes the woman in Iran today in a society which is determined by tradition as a style and pattern of thought in every area of life. The ligree, stylized images re ect in the faces and postures a translucent power of tradition. The artists don‘t want to express a political opinion but represent the woman‘s view and idea of herself, abstracted in the medium of photography.
Tuba is the name of a huge, miraculous tree that grows nothing but jewels in Paradise - a symbol of strength and beauty. The photographs are presented in the exhibition rooms of the Islamic
art collection at the Pergamon Museum. The juxtaposition of ancient and contemporary art from the same cultural background in one exhibition space raises the viewer‘s awareness of many contrasts, such as the layers of variable and seemingly immutable values.”
Such describes the Iranian artist‘s couple its photographic series from 2006/2007, in which they seek to emotionally cope with their experiences in their home country Iran as well as during their emigration. The practice to use the diaphanous image as a reminder of veil, which simultaneously holds and disguises the vision, is familiar to us; it reminds us of the slides from our childhood
and of the illusory world of advertising photography. Here, this technique is being artfully used for processing memory in different layers and on different levels.
On the one hand, the “substance of memory” in the pictures consists of folk motifs such as the blindfold that is part of the women‘s traditional costume in the Gulf region of Bandar Abbas in the south of Iran. On the other, it pictures overwhelmingly large calligraphy and stark ornament that appear behind or next to the woman‘s guration and the blindfold and that originate from objects in the Museum of Islamic Art. It seems that the “museum aura” of these objects remind the artists of the origins of tradition and religion in Iran. We should not forget that this practice of connecting today‘s rites to history is not only carried out in the Orient. Today‘s museum visitors will not only be fascinated by the connection of the different levels of „beauty“ in both Creation and artistic production, but will also remember that artistic work is to be seen in the broader context of culture – contemporary critical art as well as commissioned art that has been produced for rulers and patrons in the past.
Text by Prof. Dr. Haase, former director of Museum of Islamic art, Pergamon Museum Berlin
