and the alleyway to the prison’s garden

• Installation, 2018
• Wood, metal, glue, reflective materials, video light projection
• Variable sizes 

and the alleyway to the prison's garden was exhibited as a solo exhibition at Trestle Gallery. This piece was in conversation with a public art installation called Corner of my room. The two titles come together as an allegory of family interrelationships in exile and diaspora, questioning the way physical distance impacts the fundamental structures of communication and connection between displaced parents and children. In the case of the artist, they examined the emotional impact and conditions of intensive togetherness for a short burst of time in a small space, followed by long stretches of separation in faraway lands. 

In the process of making this work the artist examines new means of deeper connection with their own family by conducting interviews with each of their parents. During the dialogue, they showed a series of videos depicting abstract interplays of light and shadows to each of their mother and father, asking two open-ended questions of “what do you see?” and “why do you say that?”. These short snippets were originally shot from metal and reflective sculptures reacting to light throughout time in the corner of the artist’s studio. However, the abstract nature of the videos depicted architectural or natural landscapes instigating a state of losing one’s sense of space. 

Their father's response to the video was formal descriptions of the light and shadows, along with specific memories and emotional stories tied to fear and nostalgia. His guess was that the videos were shot outside in natural scenery. “Like a person struggling so hard, water has covered his face and only his eyes are showing ” he responded to one part. 

In “and the alleyway to the prison’s garden”, Rostami built an interactive playground of light and shadows by employing movable geometric sculptures and mirror-like surfaces, based on their father’s perception of space. The objects in the installation were activated by a projector playing the same video shown during the interview. As the source of light moves on the sculptures, the reflections create ever-shifting light drawings. The reflected rays are materialized into fluid forms, emulating waves in an ocean or at times clouds.