Leyla, Bahman Khan, and the man who lives on Hedayat Street; Four stories about remembering, one about forgetting

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Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

School of Arts, Design and Architecture | Master's thesis

Authors

Date

2024-12-31

Department

Major/Subject

Visual Cultures, Curating and Contemporary Art

Mcode

Degree programme

Master's Programme in Art and Media

Language

en

Pages

55

Series

Abstract

This thesis explores the fragmented stories of modern Iran (1905–2022) and the voids within historiography through embodied encounters with people, places, and traces. Traveling to the locations, I navigated material and immaterial remnants, allowing these histories to intertwine with my own lived experiences. This approach led to the creation of a toolkit for engaging with history in non-reductive ways, particularly in contexts where power structures dominate narratives and rituals, but still counter rituals and storytelling tools expose traces of power’s anxieties. The toolkit focuses on mistakes and their potential to open possibilities for re-imagining withered historiographies. It emphasizes imagination not as a resolution but as a practice of resistance—against governments, communities, or even oneself. The accompanying practice is a film, blending site footage, archival material, and crafted elements like glass sculpture and puppetry. Film as a ghostly media reflect on my encounter with fragmented historical events and fictive traces, and together with the research they offer tools to interpret and act upon history.

Description

Supervisor

Davis, Lucy

Keywords

historicity, toolkit, prophecy, indeterminacy, mistake, touch, liminal, oscillation, ghost, haunting, storytelling

Other note

Citation

Permanent link to this item

https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202501302210

Collections

[master] Taiteiden ja suunnittelun korkeakoulu / ARTS