Video: Emigration Problems Through the Prism of Language: A Snow-White Room Decorated with Arabic Script, by Parastou Forouhar
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Installation "Written Room" - an extraordinary phenomenon in the world of contemporary art. Its author, designer Parastou Forouhar, lives in Germany, but originally from Iran. The concept of the exhibition is simple: a snow-white room decorated with Arabic script is a place of thought, where you can be alone with yourself. As a rule, a room covered with calligraphic handwriting evokes mixed feelings among visitors: some out of curiosity want to find out what these letters mean, others feel inner peace in this calm atmosphere, and in the hearts of others, a painful longing for a distant homeland is born.
Parastou Forouhar's original installations have been shown around the world since 1999 and are constantly resonating with visitors. Attractive in appearance, they push the viewer into complex philosophical reflections. For Western culture, the creativity of Parastou Forouhar is incomprehensible, because only a few can read Farsi. True, the artist does not strive to "translate" her installations. She herself assimilated in another culture, therefore she understands what a person experiences when he sees a “foreign” text in front of him: an enchanting ornament, and that's all. Parastou Forouhar invites us to enjoy the visual effect that the mysterious Arabic script produces.
Parastou Forouhar admits that after emigrating to Germany, she gradually began to forget her native language. In everyday life, Farsi has lost its primary function; it has become, rather, a keeper of memories. Phrases in Arabic evoke nostalgia and light sadness for the lost homeland in the artist's soul. Parastou Forouhar admits that today she no longer knows where her real home is, in Germany or Iran. Trying to fill the void in her soul, she created just such a snow-white room where you can indulge in thoughts and combine the two cultures together.
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