The Ephemeral Carpet
The Ephemeral Carpet (2024) is a site-specific installation in a 400-year-old کبوترخانه (pigeon tower) in rural Isfahan, Iran. Foregrounding identity and belonging, it examines the concept of home as a fractured, fragmented, and precarious space within the context of migration and diaspora.
The care of pigeons in pigeon towers has been a traditional practice in Iran since the early 16th century. These structures are designed to shelter pigeons, enabling farmers to collect their nutrient-rich droppings, which are used as natural fertilizer for crops. Pigeons, renowned for their homing ability, always find their way back to the towers, no matter how far they travel. The pigeon towers serve as homes and sanctuaries for the pigeons, providing them with shelter, safety, and respite.
For my installation, I have used industrial chalk powder to create an ephemeral carpet in one of the tower’s rooms. For centuries, chalk has been used to prevent snakes from entering these structures, ensuring their safety for pigeons and their offspring. The metaphorical act of making a carpet with chalk powder is my search to re-imagine and re-create a place of belonging. Leaving temporary imprints with the chalk powder that will eventually be erased indicates the ephemerality of belonging and the precariousness associated with the concept of home. The installation is both a nostalgic longing and a mourning site, searching traces of the past in the present. It resonates with Homi Bhabha's notion of "unhomeliness” as an unsettling experience for immigrants and displaced individuals, who find themselves in a state of in-betweenness, where they cannot fully identify with either their place of origin or their new environment, leading to a profound sense of not fully belonging anywhere. The ephemeral nature of the chalk powder reflects this sense of in-betweenness, highlighting the ongoing search for home and belonging.
The Ephemeral Carpet was created during my residency at Hoorshid Artist House in the village of Zardanjan, Iran, and with the invaluable help of Dr. Farzaneh Soleimani.
