In the past five years, over a thousand people in Iran, Bangladesh, and Chile were blinded by state violence. Speechless Witness of a Wandering Tree aims to emphasize the phenomenon of deliberate blinding as an act of oppression by rulers throughout history. The narrative reframes the political representation of protestors, portraying them neither as victims nor as invulnerable individuals.
Central to the XR installation is an immersive recreation of the experience of a woman who lost an eye after being struck by police bullets during a demonstration in Tehran. After much insistence, she managed to recover the metal projectiles that hit her from the hospital.
In symbolic, ritualistic acts, the woman draws her eye on a wall of an an underpass, where slogans are repeatedly erased by the regime, and in the sand of a desert, where she buries a glass bowl containing the bullets. The boundaries between the audience and the character dissolve in interactive parts, allowing us to flow with her thoughts and vision.
Stills
