Dancer in the dark text Dancer in the Dark (Self Portrait 2011), 2019 Film projected on a crude oil drawing + a patterned plinth Shows an extracted dancing figure of...
Dancer in the dark text Dancer in the Dark (Self Portrait 2011), 2019
Film projected on a crude oil drawing + a patterned plinth Shows an extracted dancing figure of the famous Iranian female actor (Forouzan or Foroozan) from the film “Raghaseye Shahr” 1970 (Dancer of the Town) projected on a drawing of a self-portrait*. The film represents a typical pre-revolutionary Iranian cinema, which was similar to the tragic action drama style of Bollywood. Iranian cinema at this time divided into commercial mainstream and the avant-garde. The mainstream commercial cinema presented the image of women as saint/sinner.
*Self-portraits are abstract images that are based on the negative spaces between people and objects in family photographs taken post revolution of 1979. Due to artists exile from her country these self-portraits are an attempt to reclaim her presence in these family events. These drawings represent the absence of the artist and therefore they make the family separation into a universal issue, however, here the negative space becomes a positive in drawing and therefore not entirely an adverse situation. Here the family photograph was taken in 2011 and hence the self-portrait is dated for that year. The pattern on the plinth is related to the style of artists paintings and sculptures and becomes a part of the aesthetics of the work.
