Social Practice
The End Is Glorious, If We Only Persevere
14:51 minutes, 2019, three channel, HD with sound. Commissioned by John Stringer Art Prize Exhibition John Curtin Art Gallery, 2019.
Six photographic bloc prints. Edition of 2. Images Courtesy of Artist & MOORE CONTEMPORARY.
The End is Glorious, If We Only Persevere, is a poetic expression Elham Eshraghian has used to convey her mother’s experience of displacement after escaping Iran in 1979, during the revolution. The title, a quote by a prominent figure in the Bahá'í Faith, finds its origin in the Bahá'í philosophy that the end of our tumultuous journey, makes way for a glorious and unified world, something we can attain if we only persevere together, regardless of race, class, gender and culture.
The installation acts as a message to those who are displaced and have endured hardship, including Eshraghian’s mother, and to unveil their story that should be never silenced. However, the films poetic and somewhat ambiguous style calls for a wider reflection on one’s own experience and the ability to empathise with the Other, whether a refugee arriving to a new country or a host welcoming into a country.
During the 1979 Iranian revolution many people were persecuted, exiled or killed. The film predominantly focuses on the religious persecution of the Bahá'ís of which Eshraghian’s family is part. It celebrates culture, remembers moments of loss, and conveys the complex emotions felt within the refugee experience of displacement by using performance, poetry, music and archival documentation.
Empathy for all humankind, especially today, may not be an impossible ideal to attain.
"Precious and intimate, these small still images accompany the video art. Almost like postcards or pages from an album of momentos or cuttings, these images capture the poignancy of memory and association intergral to the understanding of loss and displacement." - MOORE CONTEMPORARY, 2021
MOORE CONTEMPORARY
"The Iranian diaspora and its cultural and emotional implications is a key exploration within her work. Her sophisticated and commanding film work is often built from personal narrative merged with archived footage, and yet is ultimately a poetic and expressive meditation upon the desire for universal values of empathy."
JOHN CURTIN ART GALLERY
John Stringer Art Prize 2019, finalist.
MILLEPIANI, ROME
Transitions and Displacement, | 10 July - 6 August 2020
HOME
Presented by the City of Greater Dandenong, the HOME exhibition and program promotes and supports artists seeking asylum or those with a refugee background. HOME showcases emerging and established artists and celebrates the enormous contribution that they bring to our community, both in the City of Greater Dandenong and beyond.
In its sixth year, HOME 2020 included six artists from across Australia who have created works that respond to the theme of the HOME Exhibition with professional writer, editor and academic Nadia Niaz.
PLATFORM ARTS Gallery
OCT 9 - NOV 6 2020 | City of Greater Geelong | This exhibition explores broader artistic practices and the diasporic experience in art-making, transcultural practice within an Australian context, using various media to explore the notion of a third culture - a space in which culture combines and intermingles between the Diaspora and the country of migration - and unpack what it means to be on the periphery of belonging.
Exhibitions include Wyndham Art Gallery, Incineration Art Award [Finalist] 2020,10th Prospect Portraiture Prize Exhibition [Commendation] 2020.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The Arabic Healing prayer written by The Báb, Herald of the Bahá’í Faith, translates to,‘O God, Praised and Holy! O God, Merciful and Kind! Remove us from difficulties by Thy grace and favour. Verily, Thou art Merciful and Kind‘.
The written text within the film, comes from a compilation of talks, (The Pitiful Causes of War, and the Duty of Everyone to Strive for Peace) given by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá during his first stay in Paris, from October to December 1911.
‘The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established,’ proclaimed by the Manifestation of God, Prophet of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá’u’lláh, within the scripture Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. Point by Point, poem by poet, Táhirih The Pure One
Special Thanks to The New Era Bahá’í Choir, Archives of Baháʼí Persecution in Iran, Bahá’í World Centre, Bahá’í Community of Perth, Shahnaz Pirmorady, Tom Price, Bijan Khadem Missagh, & Shapour Daneshmand 'The Silent Genocide'.
“Allahumma ya Subuhun ya Quddus" This Arabic song was composed by Bijan Khadem-Missagh, arranged by Tom Price, and conducted by Ameli Dziemba. The song is based on a prayer revealed by the Bab.