The Substation/ Blame The Shadows/ THE SKY AFTER RAIN/
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To be queer is still taboo in mainstream Iranian society; it is considered sinful and unnatural, or at best, a psychological illness. Those from the LGBTQIA+ community are often told they bring shame upon their families. They are forced to hide their identity or risk abandonment and isolation.
Poetic and haunting, THE SKY AFTER RAIN presents the stories of three queer members of the Iranian diaspora—Payam, Shyla, and Shaya—through a formalistic synthesis of recorded interviews, spoken word poetry, moving images, sound design, and choreographed dance.
Choreographer/dancer Tara Jade Samaya’s body is used as a revolutionary medium; holding space for queer voices actively suppressed and bodies forcibly concealed.
The three-piece video installation explores overarching themes about identity, queerness, gender, family, forgiveness, resilience, hope, love, and loss.
The collection entails a poem written by Payam dedicated to his boyfriend, Hasanak, and their short yet passionate relationship; Shyla’s recorded interviews about her inner self journey to understanding and accepting her identity as a lesbian trans woman whilst finding strength to forgive her family for their harsh treatment of her; and Shaya’s audio journals narrating her attempts at testing rigid gender boundaries, and the transphobic incidents which led to her leaving her motherland and family.
Feature image: Blame The Shadows, video still from THE SKY AFTER RAIN, 2019
Installation images: Blame The Shadows, THE SKY AFTER RAIN, The Substation, 2021, Photos: Damien Liang
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In Conversation
Artist Sofi Basseghi speaks to our Curator at Large, Nikki Lam, about her exhibition Ripples from the Unseen currently showing at The Substation. Sofi’s exhibition collaborators Ehsan Khoshnami, Ai Yamamoto and Salme Geransar will also take part in this panel discussion.
Ripples from the Unseen is an immersive experimental video installation where women of Basseghi’s generation born post the 1979 Iranian Revolution and during the Iran/Iraq war (1980-1988) inhabit the chambers of The Substation. Created over a six-year period and depicted through a diasporic lens, this exhibition reveals fragments of an underground revolution through emotionally charged videos of women’s lived experiences. Her empowering work reveals how restrictions on women’s freedom have paradoxically been the driving force for them to exceed and excel on diverse platforms overcoming numerous obstacles. Basseghi has collaborated with numerous people to bring this project to life including sound artist Ai Yamamoto, installation designer and architect Ehsan Khoshnami and performers including actor Salme Geransar and the generous contribution of women in Iran.
