Immersive Art
you need not fear the monsters of the sea
28th June 2024 - 01st September 2024 | MAP (Multi- Arts Pavillion) mima Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, Australia. The MAP mima exhibition program is supported by the NSW Government through Create NSW.
MAP mima’s winter commission presents Perth based artist Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson.
"you need not fear the monsters of the sea" is an immersive fairytale that delves into the artist's personal experiences of closeness and distance, using Persian miniature painting, mythology, magical realism, and spirituality. Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson reflects on her cultural roots and family history, particularly the escape of her maternal ancestors from persecution during the Iranian 1979 Revolution and their eventual refuge in Australia.
The narrative weaves together these historical migrations with the artist's childhood memories, including suburban Australian settings and folklore. The artwork draws inspiration from the Persian epic "The Tale of Sorab" from Ferdowsi's "Shahnameh," paralleling its tragic narrative of father and son fighting to the death with modern themes of identity and migration. The immersive installation features a sonic landscape composed by Ashton Namdar, where instruments represent emotional states like loss, love, and rage.
The visual experience includes golden masks and dynamic 360-degree projection mapping that transform the myth into a contemporary reflection of the artist's lived experiences. Through fragmented, poetic imagery and generative algorithms, the exhibition explores the interplay of rage and intimacy, questioning the concept of home and identity. It juxtaposes historical persecution with personal memory, urging viewers to look deeper into the nuances of collective human experience. This exhibition is an ode to memory, soul, and catharsis, suggesting that overcoming pain and aggression requires a closer, more nuanced understanding of our shared histories.
“But war is made for the satisfaction of men’s ambition; for the sake of world gain to the few, terrible misery is brought to numberless homes, breaking the hearts of hundreds of men and women! How many widows mourn their husbands, how many stories of savage cruelty do we hear! How many little orphaned children are crying for their dead fathers, how many women are weeping for their slain sons! There is nothing so heart-breaking and terrible as an outburst of human savagery!” – ʻAbdu'l-Bahá Paris Talks, 1911.
