An installation and a performance
Duration: six days
2009

“Whence doeth the good commence? Where lies the border separating the observer I and the subject of Evil? Till when will thine celestial headsprings seethe? Wherefore is my wickedness eternal? Who made thy purdahs? Who was the one who made my image? Up to where will my steps, bare or with leggings, come towards thee and up to where back towards me?”

“Pardeh” refers to different meanings in Farsi; it could be interpreted as Pardehs of an instrument: here “Pardeh” means fret; it also means: curtain, hijab and tableau. That’s why I chose the word Purdah, because of its origin in Sanskrit literature; and that there is a similar word in English: “Pardaa” which has the same roots.

Purdahs of silence is an installation accompanying a long time performance. By entering the gallery; audience would encounter a covered space in white and a couple of tableaus hanging on the wall. Both tableaus are the artist’s self-portraits and some parts of Sohrevardi‘s dissertation about existence are printed in the margins. One of them is named “Anghia” and the other “Ashghia” which are the pretexts of holiness and evil. The artist has put himself in both these opposite situations and there are proportionate embroideries on these images chests. In the main spot of the gallery and between four columns covered with white sheet except the front face, and on the ground which is covered by sands; seated the artist all concealed in the same white fabric as the columns and in front of him is a book-rack with an empty book and a Tanbur (a music instrument) with no strings. A hand shows up for a minute and pages through the book; or plays the silent instrument; then leave it on the sounds; creeps behind the covers and struggles again to escape from that white cocoon. This performance was held for six days and every day for four hours. The sixth day which is the last one sheds the blood from inside; the blood that was supposed to penetrate the fabric completely but failed to do so.