Aesthetics of an Iranian diaspora – politics of belonging and difference in contemporary art photography

Abstract

ABSTRACT Following a particular interest in memories and stories of exile and their representation in artistic photography, I draw critical attention to the notion of diasporic aesthetics. I ask why visual and performative strategies of storytelling matter as fundamental methods not only of self-representation, but also of transcultural expressions of “belonging” across various cultural and geographical borders. Reflecting on Parastou Forouhar, an Iranian artist living in exile in Germany, and her photographic series Das Grass ist Grün, der Himmel ist Blau, und Sie ist Schwarz [The Grass is Green, the Sky is Blue, and She is Black] (2017), I argue that artistic photography constitutes a social practice that carries the potential to create relations of solidarity with other migratory groups. These groups may share similar diasporic aesthetics, or be familiar with experiences of migration and exile or discrimination and exclusion. Moreover, within the scope of photography and migration and its particular expression and performances of belonging, the practice produces a creative space where cultural differences and boundaries may generate shared forms of identification and contestation that transcend national and ethnic identities. After arguing for photography as a medium that expresses the multiple notions and struggles of the ongoing processes through which “belonging becomes”, conclude that photography can generate a sensorium, a space that provides possibilities of critical transcultural engagement and encounters in post-migration societies.