Sacred Crossings: A Memorial Tribute, Multimedia Installation
This multimedia installation and performance piece gives memorial to 215 innocent people who lost their lives across Iran between 1978-1985, and onward. The majority of victims were buried unmarked, and their families forbidden from honoring them after they were killed due to a rise in violence against believers of the Baha'i faith. Many were kidnapped, murdered by mobs, or executed.
The central edifice measures 12 ft. x 8 ft. x 12 ft. memorializing 10 young women who were publicly hanged in Shiraz, Iran, in June 1983 for their religious beliefs. Among them was my second cousin Tahire, a 32-year-old volunteer nurse in rural Shiraz. The youngest was Mona, who was a sixteen-year-old student at the time of her hanging.
Completed and first exhibited in Dallas, Texas, in 1994, this installation is the result of five years of research in collaboration with the National Spiritual Assembly of the United States Baha’i archives in Chicago, IL, as well as available coverage of the executions, and a years-long process of collecting documentation from relatives of those martyred and members of the Baha’i community in Iran before the emergence of the internet.
Members of Baha’i are among the most significant religious minorities in Iran. My mother was arrested, abused, and jailed by authorities, and she was imprisoned at that time. Many teachers and faith leaders from my community were among the lives lost. The discovery of each person and understanding who they were as individuals was essential to honoring them after their deaths.
I developed a digital printing method using an etching press on Chiri paper mounted on varnished wood to archivally preserve each of the 215 individual panels representing unmarked graves. The sound of chanting, the use of rosewater, removing shoes before entering the edifice, a Persian rug, and a bench placed at the center.
Two hundred fifteen white roses are laid throughout, intended to create a sacred environment that honors those who lost their lives for their faith.
My uncle, Mr. Yad’u’llah Vahdat, a retired general affectionately known as “the father of the poor” due to his charity to the less fortunate, was 80 years old. He was executed, and his wife was given 100 lashes that paralyzed her for the rest of her life. The Islamic Revolution of 1979 stripped most of their civil and religious rights and placed many under the threat of persecution, violence, and loss. The state-sponsored atrocities against Baha'is in Iran continue to this day.