Four-Letter Word Artist Statement
The creation of this work started as a reaction to the frenzy of the news about the Palestine-Israel conflict in October 2023. Lacking the necessary knowledge and resources to have a deep understanding of this long historical conflict, I was motivated to create a piece that holds space for its audience to have a more genuine interaction with the current conflicts in the Middle East. Since the conversation around land and space has been central to the conflicts between Palestine and Israel, space became the central concept of this piece. Thinking about land, embodiment, and existence, this piece draws inspiration from prayer rugs, central to Muslim worship, which symbolize a secure piece of land for a spiritual experience. To symbolize this hypothetical land/space, the Persian garden, as a symbol of a safe space with Tatreez symbols that are inseparable from Palestinian identity and therefore the politics of the region, has been merged together. With the sounds of the news playing in my head repeatedly, I added Tatreez’s Rosette-shaped
embroidered speakers to the piece, in the heart of the Persian garden symbols, to play the sounds from the land itself - borrowed from Aporee Radio - to create a less manipulated and genuine experience to pay homage to Palestine and prompt contemplation on the ongoing Middle Eastern circumstances and their deep historical roots.
This textile piece invites its audience to kneel on the land and bring their ears close to the symbols and take a moment or two to be alone with one's thoughts and listen to the sounds of the land under distress.
embroidered speakers to the piece, in the heart of the Persian garden symbols, to play the sounds from the land itself - borrowed from Aporee Radio - to create a less manipulated and genuine experience to pay homage to Palestine and prompt contemplation on the ongoing Middle Eastern circumstances and their deep historical roots.
This textile piece invites its audience to kneel on the land and bring their ears close to the symbols and take a moment or two to be alone with one's thoughts and listen to the sounds of the land under distress.
Artist Bio
Sadaf Sadri is an Iranian new media artist based in Seattle. The focal point of their work revolves around the concept of interruption. Their interest in disruption lies in the void that emerges in the wake of the discontinuation of the established power systems. This void, they believe, offers a space to imagine alternative narratives that might otherwise remain unexplored. To translate their imaginations to a more palpable communicative form, they employ textile, video, AI and Mechatronics.
Sadaf Sadri is an Iranian new media artist based in Seattle. The focal point of their work revolves around the concept of interruption. Their interest in disruption lies in the void that emerges in the wake of the discontinuation of the established power systems. This void, they believe, offers a space to imagine alternative narratives that might otherwise remain unexplored. To translate their imaginations to a more palpable communicative form, they employ textile, video, AI and Mechatronics.