What kind of soil grows black flowers?

What fruit does the black flower bear?

Black is our eyes, black is our garments, black is the puncture in the memory of our bodies.

Artificial flowers are found in most Iranian homes, especially those of the middle class. In this piece, one3 of a series of “altered everyday objects”, small white fists are embedded into the flowers referring to peaceful resistance. The Rose, with its common significations and references, appears totally different in this new context. The project has been ongoing since 2009.

Helia Darabi

Photographers

Amir Khashayar Ghasemi
Mehrdad Motejalli

Assistants

Khashayar Safaei
Afra Mirfarsi
Amin Khalili
Horia Riyahi
Helia Azizi
Masoume Salimian
Fatemeh Chegini
Parmis Khoshnevis
Mitra Ebrahimi
Sahar Khalaji
Ava Afshari
Zeynab Hajimoradi
Yasaman Attari
Maryam Seyfi
Saghar Khalaji
Mina Ghorbani
Mina Hekmati Rad
Parsa Tajbakhsh

Special thanks to:

Amir Bahman Amirian
and Sarvenaz Mostovfi
Shima Mahdavi
Narenj Kazemi
Shiva Asfari
Mehdi Sanati
Shahriar Hatami
Rohollah Parsa Jam
Mohammad Bahabadi
Mehrdad Motejalli