Echoes of Loss and Celebration: Iranian Home Videos as Beautiful Apparitions
In May 2022, artist Parham Ghalamdar proposed an unconventional release to a London record label and radio show. He planned to use audio excerpts from his family's home videos and put them on cassette tape, creating a work of experimental sound. Ghalamdar had grown up in Iran, where his mother had documented family gatherings with a camcorder, capturing moments of song, dance, and joy that were preserved on VHS tapes. During the pandemic, Ghalamdar rediscovered these tapes and saw a universal set of experiences reflected in them.
Ghalamdar's project, Beautiful Apparitions, is also a document of political resistance. In Iran, personal video equipment was prohibited under a nationwide ban, aimed at limiting home-grown moviemaking threatening to the state's media apparatus. Ghalamdar sees the sounds on Beautiful Apparitions as "illicit" documents of lives lived in joyous opposition to state control, as well as reminders that Iranian culture is not limited to what the state sanctions.
Since the project's production, trauma and unrest have added to its emotional and political weight. Following the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman detained by morality police for wearing an "improper" hijab, protests have erupted in Iran. Ghalamdar's project has taken on new political resonance in the face of ongoing protests, and he hints at further plans for the sounds of Beautiful Apparitions and their VHS source material.
Ghalamdar's project, Beautiful Apparitions, is also a document of political resistance. In Iran, personal video equipment was prohibited under a nationwide ban, aimed at limiting home-grown moviemaking threatening to the state's media apparatus. Ghalamdar sees the sounds on Beautiful Apparitions as "illicit" documents of lives lived in joyous opposition to state control, as well as reminders that Iranian culture is not limited to what the state sanctions.
Since the project's production, trauma and unrest have added to its emotional and political weight. Following the death of Mahsa Amini, a Kurdish-Iranian woman detained by morality police for wearing an "improper" hijab, protests have erupted in Iran. Ghalamdar's project has taken on new political resonance in the face of ongoing protests, and he hints at further plans for the sounds of Beautiful Apparitions and their VHS source material.
Beautiful Apparitions Tapes
Parham Ghalamdar, an artist originally from Tehran and now based in Manchester, has curated a collection of unfiltered and authentic Persian folk and pop music, as well as poetry. The audio for this collection was taken from homemade VHS recordings that Ghalamdar's parents made in Iran during the early 2000s. The recordings document the lively and joyful gatherings of Iranians, who were secretly drinking, dancing, and singing to celebrate life during a time when owning a VHS player was illegal in the Islamic Republic. These recordings offer an amateur performance of popular and traditional songs that touch on themes such as love, loss, and life. While many Iranians likely have similar recordings of these vivid moments, they are rarely shared with the public, and such tapes were usually kept hidden, lost, or deliberately destroyed. The resulting collection is known as "Beautiful Apparitions."
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interview with Parham Ghalamdar conducted by Walker Downey, PUBLISHED BY AJAM MEDIA COLLECTIVE
Walker Downey is a historian of modern and contemporary art. He received his PhD from the History, Theory, & Criticism of Architecture and Art program at MIT in 2022. While anchored in art history, Walker’s research cuts across media studies, musicology, and sound studies. His primary focus is the contemporary field of sound art and its historical and technological roots. Walker’s additional research interests include changing public discourses around noise pollution, historical efforts on the part of artists and musicians to redefine notions of noise and silence, and collaborative relationships between artists and engineers of the postwar decades.
CLICK HERE TO READ THE INTERVIEW ON AJAM MEDIA COLLECTIVE
The Mistys - Strange Shadows music video
Strange Shadows EP available 16th, December 2022
Limited cassette available for pre-order: https://themistysband.bandcamp.com/al...
Words & Music - The Mistys
Video - Parham Ghalamdar
The "Strange Shadows" music video is a rare peak into Iranians' secretive lives in 1998. The videos were recorded at the end of a decade when even owning a VHS player/recorder was illegal, setting aside men and women mingling and swimming together. The video is a montage of VHS excerpts from family footage depicting families and friends hanging out in secluded spaces such as a private pool or indoors having basic fun activities far away from the Islamist culture forced in public areas. Iranians have always been trying to take back their lives, bodies and embodiments. Hopefully, the current "Women, Life and Freedom" revolution would end the tyranny. There is light on the horizon.
Limited cassette available for pre-order: https://themistysband.bandcamp.com/al...
Words & Music - The Mistys
Video - Parham Ghalamdar
The "Strange Shadows" music video is a rare peak into Iranians' secretive lives in 1998. The videos were recorded at the end of a decade when even owning a VHS player/recorder was illegal, setting aside men and women mingling and swimming together. The video is a montage of VHS excerpts from family footage depicting families and friends hanging out in secluded spaces such as a private pool or indoors having basic fun activities far away from the Islamist culture forced in public areas. Iranians have always been trying to take back their lives, bodies and embodiments. Hopefully, the current "Women, Life and Freedom" revolution would end the tyranny. There is light on the horizon.
Soup 12th Birthday Part 1
Soup
31-33 Spear Street, Manchester, M1 1DF, United Kingdom
Date
Thu, 18 Aug 2022
18:00 - 02:00
A curated collection of VHS tapes was showcased during Soup's 12th birthday opening party, alongside captivating visual art and mesmerizing performances by the LAC collective. The participating artists included Raheel Khan, Malik Jama, Parham Ghalamdar, Amrit Randhawa, and Emi Alrai'.
31-33 Spear Street, Manchester, M1 1DF, United Kingdom
Date
Thu, 18 Aug 2022
18:00 - 02:00
A curated collection of VHS tapes was showcased during Soup's 12th birthday opening party, alongside captivating visual art and mesmerizing performances by the LAC collective. The participating artists included Raheel Khan, Malik Jama, Parham Ghalamdar, Amrit Randhawa, and Emi Alrai'.
