In this installation titled In Memory of Aziz, I created a nostalgic space inspired by memories of my grandmother’s house in Iran. My mother, in trying to maintain the memory of Aziz, my grandmother, has kept the house and furniture exactly as it was twenty years ago when Aziz passed away. The installation consists of objects, a video, photo, and a painting. The objects installed here are all actual objects borrowed from the house, and the video and photo were also shot in that space. The painting, titled A Golden Key to the Heaven, is inspired by my uncle Ahmad, who was martyred in the Iran-Iraq war, towards the end of the conflict in 1990. Every year, for years after his death, the government of the Islamic Republic sent Aziz, his mother, a national flag. She would hang the new flag by the front door and then use the old ones around the house as blankets, sheets, or curtains. The flags transformed over the years as their colors faded. The flag in this installation was one of these sheets, which Aziz made using five flags, and then later used it as a privacy curtain for an outdoor toilet in the backyard.

In Memory of Aziz