“The Heart of a Mountain”
Land Art Sculpture, Site Specific, Temporary Installation, 2022, Hawraman, Rojhelat Kurdistan. Mirror, Steel, Wood 5’x16’. 7000’ altitude at the northwest of Sine (Sanandaj).
Below is a Short version video documentation and narrative of the Project
Below is a Long version video documentation and narrative of the project
The piece is located high up close to the tip of the mountain from the new town/village of Hawraman Takht/Uraman Takht (هەورامان تەخت) in Kurdistan between the Hawraman Fort and The City and above the Sirwan River valley. The piece is visible from The Pir Shalyar area, where the Pir Shalyar ceremony is held in Hawraman on the 40th day of winter every year. This piece took about two years to be realized. The 4 feet wide 16 feet high (Approximately 1 meter by 5 meters) wall of traditional mirrorwork called (Gereh-e-Char-Leng-e) گره چهار لنگه or Four-Legged Knot/Pattern. This pattern signifies the four regions of Kurdistan: Rojhelat, Rojava, Bashur, and Bakur, which in Kurdish means East, West, South, and North. The work is a grid of 5 by 25 tiles. Each tile is made out of 40 smaller pieces of mirror. The sculpture is up against a stone wall of the ruins of the ancient village. The dry-stone work taken and carved from the very same mountains has been the architectural materials of the region for millennia. A system of stair vertical buildings in which the roof of one’s neighbor is another’s yard. A mode of coexistence that speaks to the deep connection of the people inhabiting the mountains of Kurdistan.
