RESISTANCE & LIBERATION
​​​​December 2023 - London

Duration 90min
Material: Synthetic Hair 

Performance and Curation by Mahsa Salali for Phact Music and Performance Art event

The four metres long hair sculpture sits in the middle of a hall; gentle but strong, like a soft cage. The hair sculpture hangs in the shape of a square, inspired by the shape of Mecca (house of God). The fighter (performer) is in two elements : Resistance & Liberation. Running and walking outside but glued to the hair, praising the hair; like how worshipers walk around Mecca. The freedom of the fighter is neither inside nor outside of the hair; it evolves with their continuous liberation. The hair becomes their protection, their resilience and their oppression. The fighter finds comfort in the hair from the womb and motherhood that gives birth to it. The fighter turns their oppression into a weapon, and their existence into a battle.

The Farsi song sung in this work; "I Detest Your Faith" is a religious song, sung during the holy month of Muharram in Iran. Muharram is a month of commemoration in Islam. The song is often accompanied by the action of chest-beating as a form of austerity and a type of mourning ritual. Women in Iran are not allowed to sing, therefore the song has never been sung by a woman in public..

I detest your faith,
Curse your faith,
Of callus on your forehead and your stone hearts,
Your stone hearts,

O you faith lost town,
O you saddened people,
O you a world of lost faith,
For your disgraceful promise
For your disgraceful promise

Photography @Zenhofer