Installation

Here's My Mourning Routine

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Here's My Mourning Routine *

A dimly lit room with a decorative rug displayed upright. The rug has a red background with floral patterns, and a spotlight shines on it, highlighting a small section.
View of a laptop screen showing two men, one looking at the camera and the other looking down, with a glowing light illuminating a torsoless mannequin in the foreground.
A person in a dark cloak examining a damaged traditional rug on a dimly lit wall display.
Close-up of a person in red patterned socks peering through a small hole, with a computer screen visible in the background. 
Images © Hanif Shoaei, 2023

Here's My Mourning Routine

2023

Here's My Mourning Routine is a transmedia installation inspired by the liberation movements in Iran in September 2022, reflecting the resistance of people both within and beyond its borders. This resistance manifests not only in street protests, but also through singing anthems, creating street art, graffiti, murals, performances, and other collective expressions.

As an Iranian living in diaspora, much of my engagement with these events takes place through cyberspace: watching, listening, and mourning from a distance. The installation translates this experience into a shared space of witnessing, one shaped by absence, darkness, and mediated memory.

The audience is invited to peek through small holes in a carpet to see a mannequin seated in darkness, silently watching the projected dancing and singing figures of those who lost their lives. This visual encounter is layered with a soundscape of protest recordings, anthems, chantings, gunfire, screams, and news reports, creating a fragmented archive of grief and resistance.

The work was exhibited at the Manifest.io Symposium 2023 at Alte Münze, Berlin, and as part of my MA thesis project at the University of Europe for Applied Sciences, Berlin.