sara mozafari lorestani

"Reliving Thousands of Suppressed Collective Memories" employs the moqarnas pattern—a form of ornamented vaulting primarily used in Islamic architecture—as a metaphor representing the spatial memories of my homeland. This work serves as a vessel through which I establish a connection between the thousands of geometrical shapes extracted from the moqarnas of Sheikh Lotfollah Mosque and the thousands of individuals persecuted by the authorities of the Islamic Republic of Iran over the past forty-four years. Tragically, many of these individuals were murdered and clandestinely buried in unknown graves, depriving their families of the opportunity to properly mourn their loss.Honoring these lost lives and amplifying their silent voices, "Reliving Thousands of Suppressed Collective Memories" engages in an act of belated mourning and illuminates the ongoing violations suffered by the people of Iran following the 1979 Islamic Revolution. This work strives to raise awareness of these profound injustices. By merging the visual impact of the moqarnas pattern with the intense duration and emotional weight of writing thousands of names, and linking it with the Woman-Life-Freedom Revolution, I urge for an end to the ongoing executions and advocate for the preservation of lives.