"Variations of Sounds, Traveling Between a Barrel and a Heart"
"Variations of Sounds, Traveling Between a Barrel and a Heart"
has been in development since 2019. The project started when I learned about a Gun Buy Back program in Minneapolis called "ART IS MY WEAPON." I acquired 12 gun parts from the Pillsbury United Communities located in Northeast Minneapolis which were decommissioned by the Minneapolis Police Department. Through conducting research on the acoustics of wind instruments during the next year I started to convert them into wind instruments. This process was done step by step in close coordination with my musician collaborators to ensure the results fit within the premises of the project and the most minimal way possible. This decision was made to ensure the instruments would be instantly recognized for what they used to be and not lose their characteristics through the process. (Videos down below).
Having grown up in an active war zone (Iran/Iraq and Kurdish ethnic cleansing), I learned too early to be resourceful with objects we could salvage. I remember walks with my friends when we would collect bullet shells, gun parts, and other parts of killing devices. We turned them into pen holders, whistles, and other strange objects of the imagination.
We were Kurds, witness to the end of too many gun barrels because of our identity, our language, and culture. With "Variations of Sounds, Travelling Between a Barrel and a Heart", I strive to connect my experiences to gun violence in the United States in order to create objects that heal. I created six wind instruments from the gun barrels I received, and with a group of musicians and composers, we collaboratively developed compositions for the instruments. This involved extensive fine-tuning of these -hard to command- alloys. The sounds each barrel makes are unique and do not match standard Western notation. I was looking for a Kurdish Shimshal touch in some of the compositions. Shimshal is a music form played by shepherds and locals in Kurdistan. In some of the pieces, I believe we have achieved that goal. Each barrel has a storage case crafted to the size and shape of the actual gun from which the barrel was taken. This gives viewers a sense of the type of gun each barrel was taken. What you see here is our first performance at the Weisman Art Museum.
