Exploring Geometry and Grid through Medieval Square Kufic Script
Artful Attacks, 2021
Solo Exhibition, Mercury 20 Gallery, Oakland, CA
Iran, a Non-Proliferation Treaty member, has been subject to severe sanctions by Western powers for decades. Nuclear development has been used as justification to pressure the government. Artful Attacks refers to the mysterious explosions that targeted Iran’s nuclear site near the historic city of Natanz, home to a 13th-century cultural heritage complex, in 2020 and 2021.
In this project, I appropriate patterns from the Topkapi scroll, a late medieval Iranian document housed at Topkapi Palace in Türkiye. This paper scroll compiles geometric architectural drawings and Square Kufic tiling patterns that resemble QR codes. Natanz’s shrine complex contains Square Kufic ceramic tile patterns similar to those found in the Topkapi scroll.
On six ceramic tiles, I use words that surfaced in the Iranian press, such as cyberattack, sanctions, nuclear power, covert war, mysterious explosion, and political tension. I carefully design these words to substitute the original religious word compositions that I found in the Topkapi Scroll. I also change the colors from blue and terracotta to black and yellow, borrowed from the standard nuclear warning symbol. On my 42-foot scroll, I use charcoal to erase, blur, redraw, decolor, and recolor repeating motifs from the Topkapi Scroll, creating disrupted surfaces that serve as metaphors for political pressure and tension. In creating my scroll, erasure is a rejection of culture and history, and it is a form of an “attack” to eliminate them. Alter in Every Direction, a three-part performative video, captures my emotions toward the elimination of history and culture.
My large scroll, ceramic Kufic tiles, and performative videos reflect both my emotional unease and the threats facing the historic city of Natanz and its medieval architecture. For me, these works speak to the ways political power and conflict can place cultural identity, memory, and heritage at risk.
The words from left to right on the Political Kufic Ceramic Tiles, 2021:
Enfejaar Mashkook in Persian (Suspicious Explosion)
Tanesh Siyaasee in Persian (Political Tension)
Hamleh Cyberee in Persian (Cyber Attack)
Jang-eh Penhaan in Persian (Covert War)
Tah-reem & Godrat in Persian (Sanctions & Power)
Godrat Hasteh-ee in Persian (Nuclear Power)
Performative Videos
Alter in Every Direction, Part I, II, III, 2021
Carolyn Smith, guitar performance, July 2021. Piece: Koyunbaba by Domeniconi, 1991
Context Lost, 2022-2023
Solo Exhibition, Krishna Murthi Gallery, Rothschild Performing Arts Center at Harker School, San Jose, CA
Context Lost displays existing pieces from my geometry series in which I incorporate references to my home culture, Iran. Much of Iranian customs, heritage, and values are unknown outside of the country, and geopolitical representation of Iran also serves to obscure and misinterpret it. Because of this, my works are necessarily viewed through an arbitrary, syncretic, and invented lens. I seek to introduce and raise questions about the impact of political conflict on Iran’s deep history of scientific, artistic, and cultural achievement, thereby revealing the context that has been lost.
Broken Grid, monotype paper tiles and a wall installation, 2022
The paper tiles and the wall installation created during my residency at MASS MoCA in May 2022 serve as a visual exploration of the grid, my native cultural identity, and heritage. Drawing inspiration from the Topkapi Scroll, the installation and tiles incorporate grids, geometric motifs, and Square Kufic script rooted in Iranian history and architecture. In my process, I deliberately remove these shapes from their original context and symmetrical arrangements and instead arrange them asymmetrically in distorted grids to reflect on the impact of ongoing political conflicts on Iranian history.
Research
Topkapi scroll, a late medieval Iranian document housed at the Topkapi Palace in Türkiye. These tiles feature geometric designs and Square Kufic script.
Pasted at one end to a wooden rod, this paper scroll compiles a collection of 114 rectangular and square geometric architectural drawings and tiling patterns with Kufic script, in black and red inks. The Topkapi scroll is a significant example of the interconnectivity of science and art.
