Silent Tears
Ceramic
2011 (made)
2011 (made)
| Artist/Maker | |
| Place of origin |
Taraneh Hemami is an Iranian artist, living and working in San Francisco. Her work ‘Alphabet of Silence’ is a moving reflection on the fate of the female artist in exile.
The work comprises of seven ceramic tears mounted strictly vertically on a wall, which acts as the face down which the tears are running. The act of weeping has strong connotations when considering the part of the world Hemami originates. It is common for Western news reports to accompany stories of violence in the Middle East with footage of wailing women mourning the death of a loved one. Hemami references this female emotional outpouring to express the mourning for the home she has left behind.
Each tear is covered with bees wax, however the clarity of the letters is obscured and words left unformed. This inability to communicate recalls the situation of people living in exile, who are rendered silent through their absence.
The work comprises of seven ceramic tears mounted strictly vertically on a wall, which acts as the face down which the tears are running. The act of weeping has strong connotations when considering the part of the world Hemami originates. It is common for Western news reports to accompany stories of violence in the Middle East with footage of wailing women mourning the death of a loved one. Hemami references this female emotional outpouring to express the mourning for the home she has left behind.
Each tear is covered with bees wax, however the clarity of the letters is obscured and words left unformed. This inability to communicate recalls the situation of people living in exile, who are rendered silent through their absence.
Object details
| Category | |
| Object type | |
| Parts | This object consists of 6 parts.
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| Titles |
|
| Materials and techniques | Ceramic, wax, paint and paper |
| Brief description | Ceramic, seven tears, covered with paper, decorated with painted Arabic letters in black and coated in a thick even layer of clear wax, Taraneh Hemami, San Francisco, 2011. |
| Physical description | Tear shaped ceramics, covered with paper decorated with painted Arabic letters in black and coated in a thick even layer of clear wax. |
| Summary | Taraneh Hemami is an Iranian artist, living and working in San Francisco. Her work ‘Alphabet of Silence’ is a moving reflection on the fate of the female artist in exile. The work comprises of seven ceramic tears mounted strictly vertically on a wall, which acts as the face down which the tears are running. The act of weeping has strong connotations when considering the part of the world Hemami originates. It is common for Western news reports to accompany stories of violence in the Middle East with footage of wailing women mourning the death of a loved one. Hemami references this female emotional outpouring to express the mourning for the home she has left behind. Each tear is covered with bees wax, however the clarity of the letters is obscured and words left unformed. This inability to communicate recalls the situation of people living in exile, who are rendered silent through their absence. |
| Collection | |
| Accession number | ME.28:1 to 7-2011 |
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| Record created | April 28, 2011 |
| Record URL |
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