Replica

Group exhibition “Scaffolding Scaffolding”
Curated by Rachael Rakes
BAK — Utrecht, Netherlands
2022

Humans possess the flexibility to absorb all kinds of norms, thoughts, beliefs, rules, definitions, and images. This series of headpieces and scenography of videos demonstrates the many layers of restrictions political powers impose on individuals on a daily basis, shaping their behaviors and relationships.

The human body is disciplined through different kinds of ideologies and is thus forced to position itself therein. The headpiece is a replica of these sociopolitical layers that accumulate and attach themselves to us like a prosthesis.

As a starting point, this project draws on the experience of living in two different contexts, respectively Iran and the Netherlands, and the feeling of disorientation the latter has generated. Our bodies are classified by many different discriminatory systems of categorization wielded by power structures, which oppress the body in tangible and intangible ways. Replica attempts to open up a liminal space and put a distance between the body and these internalized systems of power we have come to embody. This creates the possibility for change and transformation in which the replica operates as a cast for something that is broken and is in need of a ritual of healing and repair.