The Journey West, 2017
Single-channel video with sound, approx. 27 hours.
Farsi and English with English subtitles.
I walk the 87km distance from my mother’s apartment in North York to my house in Hamilton. The performance is filmed in a single-channel video spanning 2 days. As I traverse the land between my two adopted hometowns, the understanding of time and place is disrupted through the sharing of stories. In this way, the 27-hour-long walk acknowledges my presence in Canada, particularly on the historic land along Lake Ontario. It also references my history as a refugee and immigrant while simultaneously pointing to the ongoing nature of diaspora, displacement, and evolving notions of shared cultural heritage. The walk is a symbolic commemoration of the beginning my journey to the West, enacted on the thirteenth anniversary of my initial departure from Iran to Turkey as a refugee.
This project would not have been possible without support from the following: Rah, Connor Jessome, Haley Park, Carrie Perreault, Mitra Kamalisarvestani, Stephen O’Connor, Alana Traficante and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.
The Journey West
The Journey West, 2017
Single-channel video with sound, approx. 27 hours.
Farsi and English with English subtitles.
I walk the 87km distance from my mother’s apartment in North York to my house in Hamilton. The performance is filmed in a single-channel video spanning 2 days. As I traverse the land between my two adopted hometowns, the understanding of time and place is disrupted through the sharing of stories. In this way, the 27-hour-long walk acknowledges my presence in Canada, particularly on the historic land along Lake Ontario. It also references my history as a refugee and immigrant while simultaneously pointing to the ongoing nature of diaspora, displacement, and evolving notions of shared cultural heritage. The walk is a symbolic commemoration of the beginning my journey to the West, enacted on the thirteenth anniversary of my initial departure from Iran to Turkey as a refugee.
This project would not have been possible without support from the following: Rah, Connor Jessome, Haley Park, Carrie Perreault, Mitra Kamalisarvestani, Stephen O’Connor, Alana Traficante and the Art Gallery of Hamilton.