Mahsa Salali: Resistance | Liberation

Resistance | Liberation
The hair sculpture used in this video is a piece I designed in response to the Women Life Freedom revolution. It honours the many Iranian women who lost their lives fighting the gender apartheid of the Iranian regime.
The concept of the work is based on the resistance and the liberation that grows from oppression:
The hand that breaks is the hand that protects...
The hair that breaks is the hair that protects...
The four metre long hair sculpture sits in the middle of a hall; gentle but strong, like a soft cage. The hair sculpture hangs in the shape of a square, inspired by the shape of Mecca (house of God). The fighter (performer) is in two elements : Resistance & Liberation. Running and walking outside but glued to the hair, praising the hair (like how worshipers walk around Mecca). The freedom of the fighter is neither inside nor outside of the hair; it evolves with their continuous liberation. The hair becomes their protection, it is also their resilience and their oppression. The fighter finds comfort in the hair from the womb and motherhood that gives birth to it.
The influence of the essay by Audre Lorde is dominant in this work “The Master’s Tool will never dismantle the master’s house” The fighters turn their oppression into a weapon, and their existence into a battle.
The Farsi song sung in this work; "I Detest Your Faith" is a religious song, sang during the holy month of Muharram in Iran. Muharram is a month of commemoration in Islam. The song is often accompanied by the action of chest-beating as a form of austerity and a type mourning ritual. Women in Iran are not allowed to sing, therefore the song has never been sang by a women in public.
بیزارم از دین شما
نفرین به آئین شما
از پینه پیشانی و دلهای سنگین شما
دلهای سنگین شما
​
ای شهر بی آئین شده
ای مردم غمگین شده
ای عالمی بی دین شده
از عهد ننگین شما
از عهد ننگین شما
I detest your faith,
Curse your faith,
Of callus on your forehead and your stone hearts,
Your stone hearts,
O you faith lost town,
O you saddened people,
O you a world of lost faith,
For your disgraceful promise
For your disgraceful promise
Creative Direction Mahsa Salali
Piano recorded by Mahsa Salali (extracts from Aminoallah André Hossein)
Electronics by Mahsa Salali & Lumanzin
Audio Edit and Master by Lumanzin
Videography and Edit Mona Sage