Damavand Mountain
Damavand Mountain is an elegant and simple video installation based on imagery filmed in the small Iranian mountain village of Poloor, north east of Tehran, during an artist residency in 2004.
A series of images track the cycle of a short lived poppy flower, a woman and a snow covered mountain. Gradually, the visual correspondence between the woman in chador, the flower, the clouds and the mountain peak emerge. The cloth of the chador is carved by the wind. The clouds caress the mountain peak. The poppy’s fragile skin is transformed by light. Invisible forces cause something to dance, our eyes note the movement but distanced by physical space our skin does not feel the cold or warmth of this invisible force. Only the garments in the piece: petals, chador and clouds, evoke the resilient inter-connectedness of these elements as they adapt to and endure the invisible forces that surround them everyday. The human presence appears as strong as a mountain and as eternal as the cycles of nature.
The work is a poetic and unobtrusive exploration of the global and economic forces that shape the lives of those in Iran and around the world.
Lynette Wallworth - Damavand Mountain
Commissioned by New Crowned Hope Festival
Produced by Forma
This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.
Photos: Courtesy of Australian Centre for the Moving Image and the artist
