Mohammad Ali Gorjestani

I’m here and that’s enough 🤞🏽 #42 Shout out to @_blackwell for creating this transportive Candlestick (RIP) memorial as part of his incredible exhibit at @inclinegallery

We are all in mourning and in grief, and yet we, especially those of us living away from the motherland, have to resist the idea imposed on us that Iranians exist & matter only within a monolith of a political frame. We are not a monolith defined by crisis though we are in one now. We come from art, music, cinema, poetry, rhythm, ritual, beauty and vast beliefs and ethnicities. The Tonbak of Hossein Tehrani reminds me of this. Somebody show this to Suga Free 💚🤍💔

God is perfect 🤲🏽 ‎ایران عزیز و ایرانیان عزیز، مخصوصاً آنهایی که در کنارم بودند. به خاطر شما، غریبه‌ای بازگشت تا بفهمد که از اول غریبه نبوده است. چه هدیه‌ای بزرگتر از این می‌توان به کسی داد؟ خدا را شکر. 💚 🤍 ❤️ Top photo imagined and created in 2006 Bottom photo lived in 2024

Thank you, @cultured_mag 🤲🏽 Honored to be included in this year’s CULT100. (Link in Bio) As always, any recognition comes because of a village — my Even/Odd studio family, the creative community I’m honored to be part of, and all the people I’ve been blessed to collaborate with. The San Jose Gardens, my family, and this year especially (but always), I dedicate any recognition to the honorable people of Iran. 💚🤍❤️ None of this is ever truly done alone.

DM if you coppin’ Souvla fashion will never feel the same 💔 Early rumors @grow_sf is gonna try to put a bailout on the ballot. #garrytan

Join us for a day of education, food, and fellowship as we commemorate the legacy of Bobby Hutton and the closing of Happy Birthday Oscar. RSVP LINK IN BIO. Lil Bobby Hutton was the first recruit of the Black Panther Party. He served in many capacities, including as their Treasurer and participating in the famous protest of the Mulford Act at the California state capitol. He was tragically killed by Oakland Police Department just shy of his 18th birthday, also becoming the first life taken in the Party. Every year we gather to reflect, share, and reinvigorate the revolution Lil Bobby Hutton started with speeches, films, and performances. This event coincides with the closing of Happy Birthday Oscar, our seminal exhibit commemorating what would have been the 40th birthday of Oscar Grant, whose life was taken by BART police in 2009. Please find the day’s full itinerary below. Bobby Hutton Day | 3:00 - 5:00 PM View Happy Birthday Oscar | 5:00 - 6:00 PM Film + Discussion with Rev. Wanda Johnson, the mother of Oscar Grant | 6:00 - 8:30 PM FREE RSVP: /e/bobby-hutton-day-happy-birthday-oscar-closing-tickets-1986990558248?aff=oddtdtcreator&keep_tld=true #blackpantherparty #oakland #bobbyhutton #oscargrant #allpowertothepeople

🎂 Welcome to the new 1800happybirthday.com We wanted the digital expression of this project to reflect a feeling of love and celebration, taking cues from the project’s nationwide exhibitions and installations—where voicemails are experienced within environments that expand our understanding of systemic violence and its impact. Our aim has always been to refocus attention on the lives of people who were deeply loved, moving beyond the headlines that shaped narrow public narratives toward something deeply human we can all relate to: birthdays. The new site features original airbrush portraits of each celebrant, dedicated pages to each celebrant, and a screening room featuring films produced by the project. To commemorate the launch of the new site, we’re also dropping new 1-800 Happy Birthday flagship shirt and the Happy Birthday Oscar Grant shirt which was originally printed for our exhibition at the Black Panther Party Museum. 🔗 👕 Shirts are now available at evenodd.studio/shop ☎️ 1-800 Happy Birthday Project Shirt - $50 Proceeds support the project and the families at its center. 8.2 oz heavyweight cotton. Boxy fit, dropped shoulders. Printed in the Bay Area. 🍰 Happy Birthday Oscar Grant Shirt - $50 Proceeds go directly to the Oscar Grant Foundation. 8.2 oz heavyweight cotton. Boxy fit, dropped shoulders. Printed in the Bay Area. SITE CREDITS – Produced by — @evenodd.studio Creative Director — @mohammad.earth Art Director & Design — @diy__j Producer — @hkinder Airbrush — @hey.ruca Site Development — @strange.pixelss Data — Hannah Farris, @goodmorningolive Project & Content Management — @worthlessstudios

We brought 1-800 Happy Birthday home to the Bay 🌁🎈 With one week left of @1800happybirthday exhibitions at @blackpantherpartymuseum and @for_site , we’re reflecting on an amazing series of exhibitions and public art installations across SF and Oakland earlier this year. In January, we installed a phone booth and living room exhibition at the @for_site guardhouse, coinciding w SF Art Week. 🖼️☁️ In February, we opened Happy Heavenly Birthday Oscar in celebration of Oscar Grant’s 40th birthday @blackpantherpartymuseum . 🎂📞 And, at the end of the month, we joined @blackjoyparade with a payphone pop-up at the Healing Village. 🎊 Make sure to visit the exhibitions before they close and learn more about our presence in the project’s work in the Bay Area in the @1800happybirthday feature in the Guardian (via the link 🔗 in our bio 🔗) - @blackpantherpartymuseum closes on April 11 - @for_site closes on April 20 Thankful for the community that came together to support this work, and the team behind the scenes: Artist: @mohammad.earth Curator: @bjmcbride23 Created in collaboration by @worthlessstudios , @evenodd.studio , @campaignzero Supported by @eastbaycf , @sanfranciscofoundation , @calendow , and The Mellon Foundation. Video shot and edited by @ericksaladbar

⛳️ Another film for @cashapp communities. Cashapp fam @maliksulie @tourdeken Director 🙏🏽 Casting, Production, & Post @evenodd.studio EP @chaddghiron Producer @rod_byerson 1st AD @glock136 Cinematographer @cambiowashere Edit @claudiusansah (@_p.a.r.a.l.l.a.x_ )

Opera Creole @ Marigny Opera House, New Orleans 🎻 Client @cashapp Production @evenodd.studio Producer @rod_byerson Photo Assist @julianedward_ Film Scan @photoworkssf

Another one for @cashapp communities. 🎢 💰 Thanks to Bella and her fam and the good folks in Galveston. Cash App @maliksulie @tourdeken @ww_simpson Stephen Pham Director 🙏🏽 Casting, Production, & Post @evenodd.studio Producer @rod_byerson 1st AD @glock136 Cinematographer @franklinspov Edit @lobedobe Color @breezus_christ Sound @sanctus.audio Music @sebastianfritze

“Opera Creole” for @cashapp communities I’ve been thinking a lot about erasure as an inevitable side effect of diaspora. Resisting it makes you seem crazy, if not crazy then difficult, excessive, inconvenient. Assimilation sells you on the comforts of quitting the quest for survival by making yourself legible, translatable, acceptable. It tells you that preservation is just indulgence in nostalgia. That insisting on your specificity is quixotic and therefore akin to insane because you’re holding onto something that’s already gone. The isolating reality of that resistance is bones deep. Paralyzing. From the outside it seems like a choice. From the inside it feels like a tidal wave frozen in time towering above your head. You start to question yourself. Maybe they’re right. Maybe this is romanticizing. Maybe letting go is just pragmatic. Working on this film reminded me of the value of resisting, reclaiming and ultimately revival. Transcending nostalgia into living culture. I also realize that for some there’s nothing to do but this work. Because accepting erasure as inevitable is what actually makes you crazy. The work itself is where the hope of reaching sanity emerges from.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ “Opera Creole” feat. @operacreole Cashapp fam @maliksulie @tourdeken Director 🙏🏽 Casting, Production, & Post @evenodd.studio Producer @rod_byerson 1st AD @glock136 Cinematographer Michael Cambio Fernandez Production Design @em_kingston Edit @scootpequeno Color @cameronmarygold Sound @sanctus.audio