Shahram Entekhabi

Exhibition Titled “Animal Era”
Recent drawings and video
Opening at Aaran Gallery on 11th July 2014

The solo exhibition of Shahram Entekhabi will look at childhood memories and the construction of identity that is subject to political, social, economical, and cultural influences . 
This on-going project is inspired by an allegorical satire written in form of a musical play and using elements of Iranian folklore. “Shahre Ghesseh” (Farsi for “City of Tales”) is perhaps the most popular of all Persian plays. It was written by Bijan Mofid (1967) in traditional rhythmic style that resulted in a kind of musical drama. Although at first glance it seems to have been written for children, its main audience is adults. “Shahre Ghesseh” is in fact a parable about socio-political issues but also characterizes some negative elements of Iranian mentality and modal social behaviors such as paranoia, superstition and xenophobia. 
“Shahre Ghesseh” tells the story of an elephant who arrives in a town of animals, filled with illustrious characters such as the mullah incorporated by a fox, a poet incorporated by a parrot, a carpenter-donkey, an intellectual-monkey, a tailor-goat,... When the elephant – the main character– arrives in town, he sprawls and breaks one of his tusks. The townsfolk, realizing what has happened, offer to fix the elephant by placing the tusk on his forehead and snip off his trunk. ...

thesis: Representing the Unrepresentable. Strategies of  De/Construction of identity in Contemporary Iranian Video art, with a focus on Simin Keramati And Shahram Entekhabi