A New Year

A New Year (nouroz)
video on loop (14:05 mins)
(video projection:16 X 9 ft.)

Salutation to the Angels

Salutation to the Angels is a two-minute looped video. It opens with a wide angled shot of myself in white, centered in a large grassy field with a small, white, box-like structure in front of me. As the video proceeds, I slowly bend down into that structure. That first shot cuts to a shot of hair floating in blue water. The camera/face pulls out of the blue and reveals a sink. The camera and I pause for a second and then turn to the grassy field on my right and recite Asalam-alaikom-wa-rehmatullah. I turn to the left side, recite that verse again and then turn back to the sink. The video then cuts back to the wide angled shot as it loops just at this point. The action repeats itself through the looped video in order to let the repetition make that action absurd and never ending for the viewer.

Asalam-alaikom-wa-rehmatullah means “peace be upon you” and is recited after finishing the Islamic prayer Salah. Salah is a ritual prayer with a prescribed procedure, time and conditions. It means “connection” in Arabic. After connecting with God, one turns to both sides to greet the two angels on two shoulders. These angels are known as Kiraman Katibin in Islam, meaning honorable recorders. They are supposed to record a person's good and bad deeds. After Salah the salutation is offered to both of them in an attempt to be wary of the good and bad one does.

In this piece,  I dump my head in blue water to a point where I can’t breathe and then take it out quickly. After my submerged head comes out of the water, I recite the salutation to the two angels by turning my head to the left and to the right.The dumping of the head becomes a prayer in this sequence however; the act of dumping is like waterboarding and can be suicidal until the head is taken out of the water. 

I am questioning the act of connecting with God at the cost of harming the body. This thought is very much predominant in the recently emerged phenomenon of suicide martyrdom. It believes that suicide of the body is going to send the soul to heaven, therefore implying that the soul should harm the body in the name of God to make its place in heaven. My practice as an artist revolves around connecting the body to the soul through meditation, prayer and authentic movement of the body. Being a muslim who is surrounded by this rational, i feel the need to address this statement by using my own body. 

 I dump my head in a circular blue space of the white sink. Blue is an ideal yet artificial color for water. This has indicated demarcation of ideal space in my work, however it also appears to be a color for self indulgence and a pursuit for idealization. Putting the head in blue water is quite literally dumping oneself into a self-created world. This is something that the soul wants, and that the body resists after a while. The head comes out of the blue and then salutation is offered to the angels. Angels record the good and bad deeds, performing the salutation makes one think about the right and wrong in this act. The entire space is collaged together to reveal a surreal space with different symbolic elements. The sink is an object from a private space is filled with blue water that is a fake/ideal color for water, and is placed in a green grass field that denotes life for the body and life after death for the soul.

Ablutions is a two-channel, 3-minute video installation, with sound that loops. The two channels incorporate similar scale projections. On the first channel, I am performing the Islamic Wudu -the intention to purify one’s self before prayer -with blue water. On the second channel, I am frantically taking the blue off my skin. The video includes closely cropped shots of performing Wudu. I also recite my intention of performing ablution to cleanse and purify myself while washing my face. I rinse my hands, mouth, nose, face, arms, hair and feet systematically, in accordance to the right way of

performing ablution. On the other channel, the same body parts covered in blue are synced as they are being cleansed with clear water. The viewer occupies the space between these two videos as she watches the two back and forth. Wudu is a cleansing ritual performed five times a day in an attempt at cleaning ones self before praying to God. Cleansing is given a lot of importance in Islam and is considered half of faith. However, the religious quote refers to not the cleaning of body only, but also the soul. I perform Wudu with blue water in an attempt to clean myself. I use it as an action that might appear to be of cleansing but isn’t when only a mindless ritual. I am commenting on religious rituals becoming part of the body without much thought gone into them. I am also questioning their function within my own life. Blue is a color that is ideal but cannot be integrated within real space and real circumstances. It is something that appears pure from a distance, but when used in a real setting it may even tint the skin and leave a residue doing the opposite of what it is supposed to do. I am inquiring into the notion of purification through the act of physical washing. Does Wudu purify necessarily? Does Wudu purify me? Does ritualistic activity lack intention of the soul? There is a general idea amongst followers of all religions that if ritualistic activities are executed the right way, it makes them better Muslims/Christians/Hindus. A ritual demonstrates disconnection of soul and body, in which the body is in an unconscious state. Blue becomes a color for self-indulgence and impurity in this video, unlike some of my previous works in which blue is considered an ideal and perfect color for water. Blue transcends from a color for magic into a color for fake and impure in my work and perception.

In this work, I also bring the ritual of washing, out of the private environment for public viewing. Muslim females perform their ritualistic practices at home, behind closed doors. Performing this action publicly not only makes a private action of a Muslim female public, but also brings religion; a very private matter in America out for public viewing and discussion.

Ablutions, 2011. (video)

Ablutions 2011. still from double channel video/audio installation.