Sheffield Fringe

Solmaz Shahbazi

Solmaz Shahbazi was born in Tehran in 1971 and has been living in Germany since 1985. She studied architecture and design at the Stuttgart State Academy of Art and Design and has been based in Berlin in the last few years. In addition to her participation at the 7th Sharjah Biennale and the 9th Istanbul Biennale as well as the 1st Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, Shahbazi’s works have been exhibited extensively in Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East.

Persepolis

Persepolis | Iran 2005 | Video | 17 min

Solmaz Shahbazi’s trilogy explores the recent historical, social and urban trajectory of the Iranian capital, a city that has experienced several revolutions in the 20th century and counts over 12 million inhabitants today. Persepolis, the last video of the trilogy, is as much a tale about Tehran as it is about how individuals situate themselves in relation to the grander narratives of history. Set in a large scale, bourgeois housing complex in Tehran, the video explores a layered history through composed interior shots, played back against the voice of their owners, as they recount their lives in this neighbourhood and its place in the city’s recent evolution, often referring to “before” and “after” the Islamic Revolution of 1979.

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