Elham Rahmati // Holding a Monument
15.11.-1.12.2018
Opening: Thursday 15th November 18-21:30 pm
My brothers and sisters,
upon writing,
preserve your revolutionary integrity
and be aware that your thoughts
and opinions can light the way of those searching for the truth.
Dear brothers and sisters,
please explain your views thoroughly
and not only in one word.
Write about your own understandings of things
and do not copy the responses of others.
To avoid cross-outs,
think before writing.
A notebook of revolutionary inquiries and a cemetery of unquiet graves. By revisiting fragments of my family’s personal history in relation to the Iranian revolution of 1979, the video/installations in this exhibition explore how political context over time shapes certain ideas and understandings. Holding a Monument, tackles the issues of memory and its relevance in the present moment. What does that political past mean today and what can one do with it? In other words, the question is – What are the fruits of revolutions?
This exhibition has been supported by Aalto University, Department of Art.
Elham Rahmati (b. 1989, Tehran) is a visual artist based in Helsinki. She is currently pursuing an MA in Visual Culture, Curating & Contemporary Art at Aalto University. She also holds an MA of Visual Arts from the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze. In her work, she deals mainly with the politics of conflict, trauma and collective memory.