Tales of the Hair (قصه های گیسو) is my artistic response to the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement in Iran; my personal-political dance in dialogue with the wisdom of Persian mythology; my poetic co-creation with generative AI. Tales of the Hair—intertwined in every wave—tells the tales of resistance inspired by the mythical symbolism of Persian Sufi poet Attar Nishaburi. In his masterpiece, The Conference of the Birds, Attar tells the stories of the birds of the world’s journey to find the almighty phoenix (“Simurgh” in Farsi, meaning thirty birds), after which only thirty birds arrive at Simurgh’s abode, where in their reflection they find the image of Simurgh. This work reclaims the Iranian movement’s narrative while creating a universal visual poetry about obtaining one’s power as a community through the journey of becoming Simurgh.

Sound artist: Manaswi Mishra