The art exhibit Simorgh: a self-portrait is currently on display at the Audain Gallery at SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. This exhibit is a collaborative work done by SFU graduate students Wyldie Bracewell, Alex Calcagno, Carlo Marchet, Chris Outten, and Taha Saraei, as well as SFU faculty Andrew Curtis. Simorgh: a self-portrait is a modern reimagining of The Conference of the Birds, a poem written by 12th century Persian poet Farid ud-Din Attar (also spelt Farid Al-Din Attar).
This poem sees all the world’s birds undertake a long and arduous journey in search of the truth. Prompted by their elected wise leader, Hoopoe, the birds travel across seven valleys looking for a Messianic bird by the name of Simorgh, capable of accessing and speaking to the divine. During this journey, the birds in their masses quit, die, or settle down elsewhere to the point where just 30 continue to the final valley, where they ultimately realize that Simorgh is nothing more than a shared self constructed by the unity of those who completed the journey.
The arts exhibition, Simorgh, does a good job of capturing this search for meaning and collective identity that Attar’s birds sought after. The pieces displayed in this gallery are crafted with a variety of media, including poems, sculptures, photographs, paintings, and video elements. Upon entry to the exhibition, Saraei’s photographic exhibit, Stilled, immediately caught my eye. This large artwork is a mural showing a collection of crumpled-up paper, tissues, soda cans, and leftover food scraps arranged to appear like renaissance-era oil paintings of fruit. This piece captured my attention due to the oxymoronic nature of having essentially garbage photographed in such a beautiful, carefully constructed way.
However, the piece which I found the most compelling in this exhibition was a piece constructed by Marchet and Sarei, titled “Self Delay.” This piece featured two television screens mounted with cameras stationed on opposite sides of the gallery, facing one another. The TVs displayed a live feed emanating from the cameras opposite them, which gave the illusion of two mirrors facing one another, heightened by the mirror frames around the televisions. The cameras being routed to the “mirror” opposite meant that when I stepped between the two “mirrors,” all I could see was my back, and as I walked towards either mirror, all I could see was myself getting further and further away. While spinning around trying to see myself in the reflection, I pondered the themes of the valley of knowledge in The Conference of the Birds, where the more the birds search for wisdom and truth, the further they end up from it.
As much as Simorgh’s individual parts were entertaining pieces, I found that they were far stronger as a whole, succinctly capturing the underlying messages of the collective self and resilience that Attar conveyed through his 30 birds over 800 years ago.
A visit to this exhibition promises to make you ponder the power of community and collaboration
not only through the connectivity of the artwork, but also from the collaboration between the artists themselves.
Simorgh: a self portrait will be displayed at the Audain Gallery until July 18, be sure to drop by next time you’re downtown for a thoughtful moment of reflection.
