After a postponement due to the Covid situation, the exhibition is now open to the public.
Áváreh آواره & Found is a visual poem; a creative expression that bears witness to the lived experiences of First and Second generations Iranian-Australians.
Curated by local artists Asha Kiani & Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson, the exhibition is a culmination of works by the Second Generation Collective.
Using multi-modal art forms, Áváreh آواره & Found explores the journey of the First Generation who fled Iran during the 1979 Revolution, and their children, the Second Generation, who have grown up in Boorloo, Western Australia. The artists have passionately engaged with their community over a year-long process, unwrapping the stories of their families who navigated execution and imprisonment due to religious persecution during dramatic socio- political shifts implemented in Iranian culture. Hearing from their elders, parents, grandparents and peers, the Collective has used The Arts to disentangle the complexities of growing up as Iranian-Australians with a dual-identity, a complex cultural heritage, and a yearning to identify with ‘home.’
Áváreh (meaning ‘homeless’ in Farsi) and Found, searches for the meaning of home - with all its nuances. What is home? Is it the place you are born? The birthplace of your ancestors? Is it what is determined on your passport or where you grew up? What is home when you are no longer wanted? When it is no longer safe? The art weaves archival and contemporary motifs to represent the sliding door moments between freedom and execution, the loss and recollection of memory in historical and existing trauma and the tension experienced from assimilating whilst grappling with feelings of ‘otherness.’
Through a lens of authentic curation and communal care, Kiani & Eshraghian-Haakansson have engaged with philosophies that ask: how can we live as a complex, unified whole where differences are embraced, and diversity is celebrated? How do we create a compassionate foundation from which our truths are heard and acknowledged? What does it take to truly understand the process of healing in our communities? The exhibition aims to untangle the fragments of what it means to listen and understand moments of suffering, hardship, hope and faith in the human experience; to embrace the universality of grief and normalise expressing our truths so that xenophobia, estrangement, & apathy are replaced with connection, empathy and oneness.
Áváreh آواره & Found culminates in an immersive experience as viewers migrate within the unique architecture of the historical PS building. Amidst the pillars of the gallery, truths are inimitably unveiled through the threads of video art, live performance, audio works, paintings, sculpture and the archival. Each element confronts the notion of the ‘passive bystander,’ inviting the viewer to reflectively walk amongst the vulnerability and courage of personal stories that shape part of the Iranian-Australian Community of Boorloo/Perth.
KHOSH AMADI | | WELCOME
We humbly give thanks and acknowledge that this project is presented on the boodja of the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation and pay our respects to their communities and Elders past, present and emerging. Throughout this project, Asha Kiani & Elham Eshraghian- Haakansson facilitated a safe and therapeutic workshop series with their community. An art therapist supported the process of unlocking creative passages to understanding and acknowledging our history and identity.
Participating Artists:
Elham Eshraghian-Hakaansson: video artist, director, producer
Asha Kiani: sound scape & performance artist, Director, producer
Raneen Kousari: multi-modal artist
Araan Kousari: soundscape artist
Elisha Rahimi: performer & vocalist
Naseem Taheri-Lee: performed & calligraphy art
Ashkaan Hadi: sound production
Aidee Varan: dancer
Ramona Zare: sculptor
Khashayar Salmanzadeh: painter
The MCN collective: musicians
Fariba Fanaian: painter
Karmel Faithi: digital design
Gabriella Lillo-Shakibaie: dancer
Renya Golestani: violinist
Sholeh Pirmorady: Painter
Nouran Kiani: Story Teller
Khnúm Mahmood & Abu Taleb: Story tellers
Dr.Hessom Razavi: storyteller, writer, poet
Arjang Piarmorady: story teller, translator
Moná Kíání: language expert & creative
EVENTS:
MCN album preview night & Artist talk, Friday 30th April, from 8pm
PS Conversations, Artist Talk, Saturday 8th of May, 6pm - 8pm
Funding Acknowledgements:
Community Arts Network Lotterywest’s Dream Plan Do program 2020
Drug Aware YCulture MetroGrant 2020. (Drug Aware, Healthway & Propel Youth Arts WA
City of Fremantle Neighbourhood Quick Response Grant 2021
Commissioned by Runway Journal in partnership with Carriageworks, ‘Divine’, Runway Journal [Online] & ‘No Show’, Carriageworks, Sydney. Feb 12 - Mar 7, 2021 and Developed at the Blue Room Theatre’s 900Seconds (of storytelling), Summer season 2021.