My Grandfather and The Ravine

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Medium: Ink jet print cotton; rain and snow.

 

Audio: 105seconds, Hassan Khalili. An entropic audio experiment of a landline phone call, repeated through a landline as the system of intelligibility breaks down: Listen by clicking here.

Purpose: Research into the intersections of cultural heritage and loss of language and oral histories. Specifically, Iranian-American culture and family histories.

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ARTIST STATEMENT

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Entropy is a process of gradual decline as a system loses the strength to maintain itself. It begins with disorder and results in complete transformation. 

 

I am the daughter of an Iranian and an American, and a citizen of both countries. Two distinctly separate nations, each of which harbors suspicions of the other. Living in Western culture, I have experienced the slow dissolution of my Middle Eastern heritage. I see entropy as a metaphor for this dissolution. I have struggled to maintain my Iranian roots and find I am losing my grip on the threads of a culture passed down from generations.

 

This work is focused on employing entropy in the process of design and image-making by using the transformation of my cultural identity as primary content.