sense of home

An autobiographical artistic research on How to find a sense of home, when you are trangenerationaly uprooted?

"There is no longer one home - but there are many possible homes. In the face of bewildering diversity, choosing and shaping personally meaningful connections to places, people, cultural and spiritual frames of reference becomes the task of the individual."

- Beate Mitzscherlich (Psychologist)

“Whenever I just felt comfortable, I had to leave.” That's what my half-Iranian father tells me about his childhood and youth. As his daughter, I am partly Iranian, I speak German and have never been to Iran. Similar to my father, I have had to move many times in my life, constantly building a new home, a new community. And like my father, I often felt like I didn't belong and that I was a stranger. He hardly spoke about his life in Tehran and the flight to Germany. As his daughter, I try to understand this life and thus understand my own cultural origins. As an artist, I bring these stories to the stage because they need to be told, to give a collective context for many individual stories of migrants. To try to understand and be understood. Only by realizing the loss, we can live a full life.

Why should I leave my comfort zone of not knowing?

Loneliness

I said: 'Give me the definition of loneliness.'

You said: 'When no one's there next to you.'

I said: 'What if you're even lonelier than that?.'

You said: 'Then when there's no one to love you.'

I said: 'Define the greatest loneliest of all,'

You said: 'When no one understands you.'

by Mahvash Sabet from the book Prison Poems

Past & Present

Where am I in all this?

As feelings come and go,

the past blurs with the present.
Here with there.
And I'm feeling quite clear the lines of separation.

Trying to find a language to connect.

Me with you.

Here and there.

Heart and body.

Pain and gratitude.

Loss and growth.

Helplessness and power in my bones. In my words. In my privileges.

Fragmented present.
Here and there.

“Dear women in Iran”

by Sarah Bosetti (German author, satirist, comedian, presenter), October 29, 2022

“It is remarkable how people in Germany are talking about the protests in Iran. For the most part, not at all. And if so, then people, parties from almost all political directions - Greens, SPD, CDU, FDP - like to say something like “We stand on the side of women in Iran”.

I would like to respond to this with a poem.

Dear women in Iran,

I'm not on your side.

I also share your anger. Anyone who says that misunderstands the vastness that separates us, in space and courage.

I am here and you are there. What affects you does not affect me. Neither bullet nor danger nor the heart that breaks within you.

I only see you digitally in pictures, give you applause. Maybe I'll even cry once, but then I'll be out again.

At the side of a heroine - yes, that's how I like to see myself. But there are worlds between me and you and you are the ones who cross them.

I don't stand by your side, I stand behind you and am amazed. And I see how you suffer. I stand behind you and whisper and I whisper something about time to support you as an echo.

I stand far behind you, barely visible in your shadow.”

adorned by Sarah Bosetti's YouTube channel, video from October 29, 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2935gEzbZ0 (accessed on April 28, 2023)

Baraye - Shervin Hajipour (28th September 2022)

Baraye was composed and sang by Shervin Hajipour in reaction to the murder of Masha Jina Amini by the Guidance Patrol of the Iranian Islamic Regime. The song consists of many Iranian voices as Hajipour collected several twitter statements from different Iranian people, where they explained their personal reasons for protesting and wishing for regime change in Iran. It's said to be the song of the revolution.

The potential of being many

building bridges

In the silence I see...
Work in progress

On the 16th of June 2023 I had the pleasure to show my dance solo "In der Stille ich ich..." with the musician Stefan Mennemeier and the Baha'i community in Kassel as part of the installation exhibition “Women in Iran “ Galeria Collectivea Kassel. The event is part of the world-wide campaign #OurStoryIsOne by @bahaibic @ourstoryisone

I was very honored to dance in front of more than 70 people in this small galleria space, and I'm still full of gratitude when I think about the conversations I had with different people in this frame. Seeing so many people coming together, sharing and expressing, showing solidarity with the people in Iran and the Iranians living here, was very touching. Thanks to everyone who was there!

In the solo I deal with my emotional resonance to the murder of the 10 Baha'i women in Shiraz 40 years ago, the ongoing oppression of women in Iran until today and my connection to the present events as an artist with Iranian and German roots. To speak for those who cannot speak. To connect and show solidarity. To dare to open our hearts.

standing here with you
a dance film with 22 women

"standing here with you" was created in July 2023 as an act of solidarity with women in Iran. The dance film was made as part of the global campaign#OurStoryIsOne by the Bahá'í International Community, which aims to remember the murder of 10 Baha'i women 40 years ago in Shiraz and the ongoing oppression of all women in Iran.

22 women in Kassel (Germany) came together to find an individual and collective expression in response to the protests since September 2022 and the decades-long suppression of women in Iran. To become visible for those who are not allowed to be seen, to dance for those who are not allowed to dance, to connect with each other, so that we are not alone with the feeling of helplessness. For women, life, freedom. And for hope.

Concept, direction, editing, sound design: Deborah Manavi

Dancers: Lily Bromley, Simone Reimer, Lena Kühnel, Patricia Kriese, Josefine Strehle, Mira Klepfer, Josefine Malakçi, Katja Mand, Angelika Schmitt-Rößer, Justyna Staszczak, Massumeh Rasch, Mareike Steffens, Klara Koraus, Paula Schulze, Kerstin Rohwer, Anette Hänning, Nazanin Esmaeilisedeh, Kristina Langholf and others.

To be continued.

Stepping into the unkwon, doors are opening, which I haven't seen before.

Life is calling vibrantly to act, to speak, to create, to connect.

Keep in touch.

The artistic research "Sense of Home" (04/01/2023-06/30/2023) was supported by Fonds Darstellende Kulturen with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media within the program NEUSTART KULTUR.

Sense of Home