Folding Gardens, A Stained Memory, 2017-2019

Folding Gardens, A Stained Memory installation has been exhibited four times, in a traveling exhibition, in the San Francisco Bay Area between 2017 and 2019. The installation is on view at the San Diego Museum of Art, Sep 2024-Jan 2025.

Folding Gardens, A Stained Memory is an immersive installation that integrates elements of nature, history, and sensory experience. The installation features fourteen silk organza strips, thirteen of them adorned with floral patterns derived from the 12th-century Herbal of al-Ghafiqi botanical manuscript. Arranged to form vertical gardens, these printed compositions are both portable and symbolic, embodying the idea of carrying healing botanical gardens that can be folded and opened as needed, emphasizing the importance of connectivity with the natural world.

Accompanied by the soothing sound of a water fountain, aromatic plant extracts on shelves, and a Medicinal Herbal Volvelle (wheel chart) highlighting the healing properties of eight medicinal plants, visitors are encouraged to actively interact with the piece. They can smell aromatic plant extracts from jars or engage with the volvelle to learn about the plant’s medicinal uses. By walking through the suspended vertical garden, participants experience the detailed botanical drawings up close, while listening to the sound of water.

On a personal level, this installation evokes one of the earliest memories of my childhood. My family has deep roots in the southern city of Shiraz, Iran, known for its tradition of using herbal medicine which is still a vital part of people’s daily diet. The Shirazi’s obsession with the power of herbal medicine goes back to the medieval medical practices that recognized the benefits of natural medicine for the human body. Spending time in both traditional drugstores and the gardens of Shiraz with my grandmother, I was deeply influenced by the deep belief in the healing powers of herbal medicine and the importance of staying connected to the natural world. The visual memories of many rows of herbal extract bottles on shelves at the Shiraz bazaar are still vivid to me. During the Revolution of 1979, protests interrupted my idyllic life and caused occasional shutdowns of my elementary school. During a rushed evacuation, I was seriously injured, my blood staining the classroom floor. Having printed the black and white floral patterns at Kala Art Institute in 2017, I added fabric strips of red tulips (symbols of martyrdom in Iran) and bloodstains in 2019.

Folding Gardens, A Stained Memory underscores the significance of visual elements in the early science of botany and creates a multisensory connection to nature through the senses of sight, smell, touch, and hearing. It also reveals how a pleasant childhood in Iran became interrupted and “stained” by the Revolution of 1979.

Folding Gardens A Stained Memory

Digital prints on silk organza, rods, and silk threads, each 10’x 24”. Installation: 7.5 x 8 x 10 feet

Medicinal Herbal Volvelle
Silkscreen on metal, wood, and printed text, 24”x 24”
Volvelles are the first paper analog computers from the medieval period, which were made by hand and installed inside scientific manuscripts to offer calculations and to make the manuscripts interactive.

Aroma
Bottles, shelves and plant extracts