The Milestone Paper:
Interested
in the separation of east (Middle East) and west after living in both places;
At this stage I am looking into the meaning and effects of borders, barriers
and walls between humans; not only their physical qualities but also
their psychological and political implications. I am hoping to raise awareness
or create a conversation around them.
Based
on my observations and research I decided to investigate two aspects of these
divisions and their affects. One: the physical barriers that are built, such as
west bank wall, Tijuana Wall, Berlin wall and many more. Two: I am looking into
the hidden and invisible walls, such as language polemics used in a speech or
television show, or passport as a hidden dividers and many more. Currently I am
researching the two aspects individually but they may overlap at some point in
the research.
The
nature of this thesis is strongly political. Not only because the starting
point of this research was the conflict between Palestine and Israel and the
wall in West bank but also because these walls, both hidden and visible
barriers, existence due to a political issue, or they hope to create one.
Born
and raised in Tehran, I moved to the United Arab Emirates at 18 for higher
education and for the hope of better future. I was looking for freedom. At the
time freedom not wearing a scarf or Manto (a long cover to cover the body) was
freedom. I considered myself an activist when I was living in Iran, defending
women’s rights by getting involved in debated with other groups of youth or
distributing presidential flyers around even though I was not even eligible to
vote. But once I left Iran the definition of freedom changed. I was exposed to
a bigger picture. Freedom to me was to get the right information and be free to
make the right decision. During my stay there I met people from many
nationalities, and soon I realized that the topic of my conversations changed.
I was trying really hard defending my country and my people. What many knew and
though of Iran was not true or at least it was not everything they should knew.
So from complaining I moved to defending.
During
the 8 years that I lived in the UAE I traveled to Lebanon, Sri Lanka, France,
United States, Mexico, Frankfurt and Australia I observed and learned so much.
But it was not until I started living in the USA that I found it necessary to
look into the topic of barriers, borders and walls.
In
June 2012 moved to the US, San Francisco about a year ago to study in
California Collage of the Arts. Not too long after I moved I realized that I
was not so much talking about Iran and Iranians but I was talking about the Middle
East and defending that side of the world from the stereotypes. In my daily
regular conversations I heard statements like " US needs to kill the bad
people", " darling you are a good person but there are many bad
people in your country" or " if the US doesn't take care of bad
people another 9/11 is going to happen" and many more. I wondered how
someone could allow himself or herself to think or believe that killing the “other”
is ok. What made me pick this area, as my interest was another war between
Israel and Palestine that broke out in October 2012. I watched what the media
broadcasted, read all the comments and information that was going around in the
news through television or internet at the time. It was very obvious to me that
the information was creating a division between people. I observed how innocent
civilian people of Palestine were pictured as dangerous humans that deserve to
die. I never trusted news channels in Iran and always imagined how different
they must be in the US. But digging deeper I was surprised. Watching the news
and paying a close attention to the language used during the war made me
remember the statements that I heard after my arrival here and I learned why
people think that way. One of the most dangerous things that these mediums
do is dehumanizing the “other” therefor the actions you take towards them is
justified and no one would appose it.
The
process that I went through is as bellow:
My
interest in the physical conflict narrowed me down to the west bank
wall. This wall is built on the land of Palestinians and imprisons
them within their own country.
As a
result I have tried to re-create the effects and feelings created because of
the creation of the wall within the 2D space using photography. I used light,
depth of field to create the spaces. Even though the spaces were received
positively and strongly I didn't spend enough time, investigating them and
moved on. Quickly I placed silhouette figures within those spaces trying
to add to the meaning behind them. My intention was to help people feel how it
is to be in those spaces by interacting with the spaces. As soon as I did that
it was clear that placing the figures within the spaces was not the right
answer. I was saying too much, the figures were not helping the viewer feel
anything but they were telling the viewer what to feel and that was not what I
wanted to achieve.
Since
these walls are massive and very tall, scale is an important thing to
communicate. I have created scale within my 2D images but, to imagine a scale
is one thing and to feel it is another. Therefor as the second step I decided
to use projector to enlarge the spaces and allow the viewer experience the
scale and hopefully the space. I managed to achieve the feeling of scale
to some extend but I feel the ephemeral feeling of the projector failed to
communicate the importance of these barriers and spaces. The west bank wall, where
it divides the resident, is 8 meters tall and made out of concrete. The
material and the length blocks any view of the other side. Also, since the wall
goes all the around the west bank, It creates a huge scale prison that people
need permission and visas in order to go beyond the wall, they will be checked
every time they want to pass the wall like one would before entering or exiting
a prison. The wall and the event mentioned earlier create the feeling of
entrapment and it challenges hope. Therefor my next step would be finding the
right way to communicate the missing information. Maybe creating these images
in a large scale, ideally real size will be a way to continue the experiment
and research. I may bring back the projectors somewhere down the line but for
now I think I will move away. I have to say the cost of building large-scale
spaces is a little challenging for me.
Further
to all above, looking back at my earlier spaces and work, I think there are
qualities that I can use and take advantage of that I abandoned too early. The
images said a lot even though they were simple and minimal, in ways they
communicated some of the feelings I wanted to create with the least shown
and said; the playfulness of the light and more. Looking back at the gif file
made me wonder how I can go back to the light and wall experimentation. Therefor
part of the next step I would like to look back on simplicity and
minimal.
As of
right now, I have not explored the second aspect of the wall as much as I hoped
to, the hidden/ invisible walls. The only study in that aspect is mapping out
the language used by Netanyahu in UN against Iranian president and is viewed as
a wall to making peace. I definitely need more help and investigation in that
area.
Milestone
one: Recreation of a feeling within a space
At
this stage I would like to investigate typography as a medium to communicate
barriers and walls. I believe bringing typography into the spaces that I am
creating will help engaging the audience with the work. Through this milestone
I will be creating a model or a space that I can use to create the spaces using
typography. The outcome with the 4 studies that I think is conveying the
messages that I want.
Milestone
two: Language Visualization
Exploring
the notion of Borders and find a visual system of mapping them.
