2021
Laser engraving on raw canvas (94*63-inch), four-channel audio
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Same Old Story engages a global perspective on colonialism by visualizing past and present anti-colonial narratives. I aim to develop a global topology of anti-colonial movements and forces in order to better understand and contribute to Canada’s contemporary discourse on colonization. However, my preoccu¬pation with this concept stems from my personal life and family, the history of colonialism in my country, Iran, and my current situation as an individual, living in Canada.
I search for anti-colonial narratives from around the world. In these narratives, I am curious about the conditions of the buildings as the site of the stories: empty and banal spaces devoid of people that carry the weight of political events that have influenced the lives of many. As a method of storytelling, I create multilayered drawings based on online archival photos of the sites of the stories. In this iteration of the work I have included four different stories in conversation with each other. To encourage an intimate connection to the work, I have included a multilayered sound installation that is also based on online archival sound material related to the stories. The audio component, consists of four channels, with each voice related to a single story coming from a separate speaker. The mutual presence of stories in one work creates a cacophony, stimulating a fictional situation, as if all the stories are happening at the same time.