Hich in the Creation of Sepehri ̗ Kiarostami ̗ and Tanavoli
Mir-ahmad Mir-Ehsan
Tavoos Quarterly ̗ No.8 ̗ summer 2001
Attempting to hear the dialogues in the poetry of Sohrab Sepehri, the films of ‘Abbas Kiarostami, and the sculptures of Parviz Tanavoli is an awe-inspiring, perplexing and mysterious experience. When we focus on the concept of heech, or “nothingness,” in this three-way relationship, our wonder is intensified. But “nothingness” here is not “nothing,” that is, without anything. It is rather the essence of a riddle and the root of their art. It is nothing, and the source of man and life.
Why have I chosen these three artists as my subject? In my view, all three are in some way the leaders of a unique artistic style which is connected to life and our roots; and they are brilliant mirrors of a special style in the modern world. When contemporary man has an inclination to “pay a visit to his father’s house,” he becomes nostalgic about the things he used to have. He returns to his childhood and becomes engulfed in the question of nothingness—a nothingness which is not nothing, but conscious of man’s view of the world.
No doubt, in ‘Abbas Kiarostami, this return to childhood arises from post-modern influences and not nostalgic ones. By relying on the purity of childhood, he brings on a new wisdom, a modern inquiry, new horizons, freedom from tradition and superstition for the child, and makes a point to the “adults” who have not yet grown up. He begins with nothing, the re-evaluation of everything, and asks questions with a new wisdom.
Here, I do not intend a comparative examination of the special characteristics of Sepehri’s poetry, Kiarostami’s films, or Tanavoli’s sculptures. I do not want to critique the general characteristics of their art, or deconstruct the basis of their work and, from every aspect, discuss their differences and similarities. Rather, I wish to speak of the presence of “nothingness” in the works of all three artists—its meaning, affinity and dissonance between each artist’s nothingness. These are merely suggestions worth thinking about.
Most of us have read Sohrab Sepehri’s An Oasis in the Moment:
If you are coming to see me,
I am beyond the land of nothingness.
Behind the land of nothingness is quite a place,
Behind the nothingness of the veins of the air,
Dandelion seeds carry a message from the blossomed flower
Of the farthest bush on earth.
On the sands, too, are the hoof-prints of horses with delicate riders
Who went in the morning to the foot of the hill of the ascent of the poppy.
Behind nothingness, the umbrella of yearning is open:
The moment a breath of thirst touches the stem of a leaf,