Know Thy Neighbour #3

Table of Contents

Project

Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson in the Town of Victoria Park

A pair of patinated brown high heel shoes on a red rug patterned with golden flowers and curved lines. The photo is taken fron ground level. A CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) television can be seen in the distance, out of focus.
Viewer: please come in with your shoes off, in reverence.

edges of place مرزهای مکان, edges of place مرزهای مکان

edges of place is a three-channel film-poem, a first chapter in an ongoing body of work exploring the emotive and contem­plative ex­perience of home; its vulnerability and risk, comp­lex­ities of geography, the past and present, lived experiences and emo­tional landscapes. The fleeting yet ever­lasting inti­macy that comes with its’ memory. How is home ever evolving? Is home a feeling?

During her residency with St. Mary’s Outreach Service, as part of Spaced, Know Thy Neighbor #3 in partner with Victoria Park Community Centre, the artist made written reflections in response, sur­mising the reflective poem as scanned text depic­ted in the artwork, a first unearthing to the experi­ence of home/less/ness. ‘She’ in the text often refers to the artist’s mother’s homeland. The moving image clo­ses on a reflective poem express­ing the artists conflicted sense of identity; familiar and alienating, both at home and far away, in place and language. Interpreting past trauma found in displacement and the transference of these ‘inherited stories’ by the com­munity, the artist offers a lens to the inter­generation­al and uni­versal experience of mourn­ing, loss, love, nostalgia and placelessness.

Produced by Spaced, Victoria Park Community Centre and the Town of Victoria Park. This work was in consultation with creative arts therapist Cara Phillips, and St. Mary’s Out­reach Service.

  • A close-up shot looking down at a black CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) television placed on the floor. Atop the television are three remotes. The television shows a frame of a home video of two young girls.
    Video installation detail.
  • A still frame of a video work by the artist tiled 'our home'. The frame is a top-down view of a handful of rice being placed in front of a pair of dark brown leather boots. The boots are placed atop a red rug patterned with golden flowers and curved lines. A caption reads 'He says he lost his sister, her name tattoed on his wrist.'
    Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson, ‘(our home) خونۀ ما’, 2022, film still.
  • A view of the installation at UWA Cullity Gallery. In the center of the room is a red rug patterned with golden flowers and curved lines. Placed on top of it is a pair of brown leather high heels facing a small black CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) television playing a home video. Flanking the television are two tall framed white screens with videos projected on them. On left wall surrounding the exibit are five small photos —&thisp;still frames from a video. Towards the left edge of the photo, a white picket gate can be seen leaned against the wall.
    Installation at UWA Cullity Gallery. Exhibition images by Emma Daisy.

Contextual references

  • The Tazhib, traditional Persian patterning used to beautify fabric, homes, carpets. The illustration was made by the artists mother, Sholeh Pirmorady. The pattern symbolizes ‘gathering’.
  • The drawing of the artist’s grandfather was made by the artist when she was 18 years old.
  • The demolished home of 94 Carnarvon Street, East Vic­toria Park. This house was 100 years old, damaged, and demolished due to asbestos. It was renovated and built by a carpenter who owned the home, now in his 80’s.
  • The landscape footage, filmed in the Yued Region, Ledge point (Shire of Gingin), is in acknowledgement of Áshena, Bear Witness to Me (2021) by Elham Eshraghian Haakansson, Asha Kiani and the Second Generation Collective.
  • Language reflecting the ‘push and pull’, written English subtitles juxtaposed with archival Farsi conversations.

Special Thanks

Spaced, Know Thy Neighbour #3, Marco Marcon, Artistic Director of Spaced, Town of Victoria Park, Victoria Park Community Centre, St. Mary’s Outreach Service, Bayside Art Gallery, MAP mima Lake Macquarie Art Gallery, Forrest Research Foundation, Dr. Ionat Zurr, Sarah Douglas, Dr. Ali Fardinpour, School of Design, University of Western Aus­tralia, Arjang Pirmorady, Perth Institute of Con­tem­porary Art, homeowners of 94 Carnarvon Street and the Baháʼí Community.

The artwork was created and filmed on Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar, both urban sites permitted by the Town of Victoria Park and the homeowners of 94 Carnar­von Street.

Specifically, the landscape footage, filmed in the Yued Region, Ledge Point (permitted by the Shire of Gingin), is in acknowledgement of Áshena, Bear Witness to Me (2021) by Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson, Asha Kiani and the Second Generation Collective. Supported by Community Arts Network, Lotterywest Dream Plan Do ‘21, and the University of Western Australia, School of Design.

Credits

Dedicated to Dr. Tiamour Pirmorady

  • Directed and Written by

    Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson

  • Produced by

    Spaced

  • Performed by

    Raneen Kousari

  • Director of Photography

    Elliott Nieves

  • First Cameraman

    Elliott Nieves

  • Colorist, Video Editor

    Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson

  • Archival

    Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson

  • Community Partner

    Victoria Park Community Centre

  • Commissioned by

    Town of Victoria Park, Art Season 2022, Spaced, Know Thy Neighbour #3 2022, Ellen José Art Award 2022, Bayside Art Gallery

  • Funding Partners

    Town of Victoria Park, Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries, Lotterywest

  • Storytellers

    Sholeh Pirmorady, Manijeh Heshmat, St. Mary’s Outreach Service, Community of Victoria Park

  • Safety Supervisor

    Gavin Kristal, Vinsan Demolition

  • Curator Collaborator, Consultant

    Mayma Awaida, Spaced

  • Director Programs Consultant

    Soula Veyradier, Spaced

  • Community Collaborator, Consultant

    Julianne Mackay, Victoria Park Community Centre

  • Community Collaborator, Ethics Consultant

    Medhanie Ghebregziabher, St. Mary’s Outreach Service

  • Ellen José Art Award Curator

    Joanna Bosse

  • Audio Engineer

    Ashkaan Hadi

  • Soundscape

    Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson

  • Creative Development Collaborators, Consultant

    Cara Phillips, Creative Arts Therapist Asha Kiani

  • Set Design, Props

    Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson

  • Illustrations and Costume by

    Sholeh Pirmorady

  • Translator

    Arjang Pirmorady

  • Runners

    Eckart Haakansson, Christian Haakansson

Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson (b. Boorloo, Perth, 1996) is an award-winning Iranian Australian Bahá’í video artist, researcher, and has exhibited nationally and internationally.

Her research navigates the sharing of stories, under­standing its essential role in healing and mental well-being in response to traumatic contexts. Working in multi-channel video art installations, she intersects theatrical and cinematic performance with film-poetry, archives and sound, seeking to document, as a witness, cultural stories that transcend beyond a locality into the human cond­ition. Navigating the aesthetic and artistic devices of storytelling and world-building via the moving image, this informs her own perception on how we can facilitate emotional well-being in individuals and communities. Uplifting shared voices can transform how we think, feel, perceive, and inter­pret some of the harshest conditions humans face in conflict, revolution, war and now pandemic.

Currently, her practice is intending to navigate how feminine approaches within art-making can be harnessed to mediate conflict. Through emotional immersion in new digital media, she addresses the act of preservation; preser­ving collective memory over a silent genocide, uncovering home in the face of placelessness, empower­ing communal love in the face of apathy, and under­standing connection whilst we welcome the discomfort of disconnection.