"I feel a lot of sadness and pain. But what helps me reflect or hold that sadness or manage it is art and poetry."
Iranian-born filmmaker @netaraja has watched the country she calls home bomb the country she comes from--and seen people both in the U.S. and in Iran suffer because of authoritarian leaders.
Sarabi spoke with Embrace about how artistic expression and creativity are the keys to keeping us human in times of conflict.
Meet recent Studios AIR Homa Sarabi!
Homa is an Iranian-born artist, educator, and curator, living in the U.S. Working across film, installation, and socially engaged practices, her work explores the intersection of personal and political, investigates collective memories, and researches contemporary histories.
At MASS MoCA Homa worked on her short film Path of Totality, reflecting on the personal history of censored film she has inherIted from her father, and the expanding global assault on freedom of artistic expression. Path of Totality is a short experimental documentary.
Artist photos by Thomas J. Logan.
I wish I had more photos, better photos. I wish I had a piece of Iran with me. I wish I was breathing the mountain air of Tehran, blooming in magic every spring. I wish I was picking the figs off of the tree in my grandparents house under the warm sun of the desert.
Many wishes for my dearest Iran.If you were lucky enough to know the magic of these people and this land your heart would also shatter at the thought of it ever being harmed.
I grew up in Iran, forever grateful to its endless beauty and grace. Forever thankful to speak in a language that has outlived every civilization on earth, forever hopeful for Iran that I believe in the power of its tireless people.
Every time I close my eyes I see myself on the streets of Tehran, every time I touch a flower, I remember our garden, every time I see a river, every time I eat a pistachio, every time I bite into an apple, every time I squeeze a juicy lemon, every time I pop a cardamom… I walk through the dirty streets of this stolen country of horror and greed and dream of my graceful Iran every second, that I have not seen and won’t see anything as beautiful as Iran.
سفره ی پر غصه ی امسال…سفره که چه عرض کنم، پیاله ی غم است.
هر هفت سینش بغض است و دل آیینه اش شکسته. اما هر چه قدر هم که دستهای ما لرزان باشد قدمهای بهار محکم است و خیال عطر یاسهای باغ های تهران از پس وحشت بمب و گلوله بر می آید. هیچ نمیدانستم اینقدر عاشق آن شهر پر آشوبم، هیچ نمیدانستم که تن من این چنین گره خورده به تن آن خاک است که ترکش های بر تنش هزار پاره ام کرده.
به امید پایندگی ات ایران زیبا که عاشق تو بودن مرا مغرور ترین عاشقان کرد.
پاینده ایران و سرافراز تمام مردمان سرزمین های نوروزهای غمگین 💚🤍💔
Choreography of Light going to @alternativafest in Barcelona for the 32nd edition of a festival that celebrates cinema as much more than just a storytelling device, a form, a language and an expression of life through an ever living medium.
Thanks to all my great collaborators
Performance @melaniejkahn
Choreography @megamusprime
Music and sound @aliarshi
Lighting and gaffing @charlesbruin
Production assistance @_minaek_
Abstract metaphors are my favorite things!
The best of them are only found in Persian poetry but there are other ways to peruse them too. I was lucky to have a talented group of people work with me to imagine an embodied cinematic metaphor that is this film. Choreography of Light is screening at @mimesisdocfest this weekend and soon going to Europe for exciting events.
I tried my trailer making skills…be kind!
@melaniejkahn@megamusprime@aliarshi@_minaek_
Choreography of Light screening at @mimesisdocfest this August. I am so impressed and inspired by the way the festival approaches the idea, form and practice of documentary and the block our film is screening as a part of is a curious engagement with form and concepts each one of these films put forward. Thankful to our amazing team @melaniejkahn our talented performer, @megamusprime our wonderful choreographer, @aliarshi and his magical music, @_minaek_ and her generosity. And Stephen Jackson with his cinematography.
Tan/Vatan is a visual poem, a conversation and a note to self. I am glad it is being seen in many mighty communities of cinema lovers across the world.
Thanks to everyone who helped us with this project.
Cheers to my co-director @meenakshigarodia1 and our generous composer, Maurice Methot
We’re excited to present our next exhibition: POWER / PLAY, featuring six artists whose work in photography, collage, and video challenges systems of power and visibility.
Through bold imagery and layered symbolism, these artists explore cultural norms, gender roles, colonial histories, migration, and identity. Here, play becomes a tool for subversion—disrupting expectations and reclaiming agency through the act of creation.
On View: July 11 – August 17 Artist Talk: Saturday, July 12 | 4–5 PM Opening Reception: 5–7 PM
🔗 RSVP for the artist talk at the link in our bio.
@cykkai@juliefranstudio@expert.in.nothing@pamelapecchio@laurabethreese@netaraja
Resident Spotlight:
Homa Sarabi is an Iranian-born artist, educator and curator. She works across film, installation and socially engaged practices.
Her work "explores the intersection of personal and political, investigates collective memories and researches contemporary histories."
See and hear from Homa at ARTSeed this Saturday:
June 21, 2-4pm
Marble House
1197 Dorset West Road
Dorset, VT
ARTSeed Open studios with readings, perfomances, screenings and more.
Saturday June 21, 2-4 pm.
Marble House
1197 Dorset West Road
Image from work by @acanarytorsi
Featuring:
@acanarytorsi Interdisciplinary / performance
@netaraja filmmaker / installation
@cinthjiac interdisciplinary / video
@andreaclearfield composer
Miel Sloan (writer under an alias)
Hannah Kingsley-Ma (Radio producer / writer)
The mechanical reproduction of the camera is articulated through the mechanics of the body. A symbolic study of the mechanical reproduction of life and light through film.
Brilliant performance by @melaniejkahn
Spot on cinematography by Stephen Jackson
Original music and sound mix by @aliarshi
Inspirational choreography by @megamusprime
Generous production support by @_minaek_
Lighting by Charles Bruins
Our film is screening at @moviate_harrisburg this June
If you are in Boston catch our hometown screening at the one and only @brattletheatre presented by @rpmfestival
