She Who Sees The Unknown
is a long-term research based project which started in October 2016 as part of my residency at Eyebeam in NYC. In She Who Sees The Unknown I use 3D modeling, 3D scanning, 3D printing, and storytelling to re-create monstrous female/queer figures of Middle Eastern origin, using the traditions and myths associated with them to explore the catastrophes of colonialism, patriarchism and environmental degradation in relationship to the Middle East.
Re-Figuring
One of the main terms that I have coined and developed since 2016 and in relationship to this body of work is Re-Figuring, as a form of feminist and activist practice. Re-Figuring for me is about activation and preservation. It’s an act of going back and retrieving the past. How can we re-imagine another kind of present and future through re-imagining the past—especially the kind of past that is forgotten or misrepresented?
The stories of these jinn portray monstrous female figures who are powerful, but over time their power is either increasingly presented in a negative light, or they are not taken as seriously as a lot of male superhero-type mythical stories that are more common both in the Middle East and the West. Through embracing the “monstrosity” of these figures, I hope to give birth to new beings and becomings that are able to challenge and change the power structures that exist in our political and social realities.
Re-Figuring therefore, is a ficto-feminist and activist practice that reflects on the effects of historical and digital colonialism and other forms of oppression and catastrophe. In this sense, She Who Sees The Unknown is a practice of Re-Figuring forgotten figures and re-situating their histories.
Jinn (جن)
as a Figure for Re-Figuring
In Islamic culture and teaching jinn are known as supernatural creatures. According to the Quran, jinn are shape shifters made of smokeless fire; occupying a parallel world to that of mankind. Together, jinn, humans and angels compose the three sentient creations of Allah. Unlike angels who have no ability to obey or disobey, jinn have the power of choice and will. In Iranian traditions, jinn are fearsome and honored.
My upbringing in Iran was full of ancient mythical narratives, all involving extraordinary and supernatural beings. My bedtime stories of childhood, told often by my grandmother, were about her memories of encounters with jinn, usually in the public bathouse of her village. When jinn possess humans, they guarantee an utter openness. A new kind of entrance, portal, and arrival to the outside. For me, this is what makes them attractive candidates for an act of Re-Figuring.
When thinking about technology, potential futures and new worlds, it is perhaps time to think outside of Donna Haraway’s concept of the “cyborg” in order to stretch our imagination to a new set of figures that do not come from white/western knowledge structures. If Haraway claimed to be “a cyborg rather than a motherly/earthy goddess”, I claim to be a jinn rather than a cyborg.