Zoya Sardashti

Reclaiming Maternal Lineage: The “Parricida” Performance as an Act of Care and Resistance. “Parricida,” is a durational ritual set within a restroom space, challenging the patriarchal norm of familial name inheritance through intimate one-to-one engagements. Inspired by Franz Kafka’s metaphorical use of parricide in "Letter to My Father" to critique authoritarian structures, “Parricida” is an act of resistance against these norms, employing care as its core methodology. Participants, prompted by an attendant while they wash their hands, engage in dialogues reflecting on identity changes if their maternal name was inherited instead of their paternal. This scenario encourages participants to inscribe their first names along with both parents' family names on the restroom mirrors, symbolically reclaiming their maternal lineage. Theoretically, the intervention draws on feminist care ethics, emphasizing performative and body-centric aspects of care as aesthetic and resistive practices. This re-naming act, documented through participant-photographed reflections and their subsequent sharing, serves as both a personal and communal reclamation, and a broader commentary on gender equality. Empirically, the study employs qualitative analysis of the documented dialogues and visual data, illustrating how such interventions can significantly alter perceptions of identity and lineage. This not only foregrounds underrecognized maternal histories but also amplifies narratives that challenge patriarchal oppression, fostering a discourse on gender equality through creative acts of care. The performative intervention will contribute to the dialogue on how artistic practices can be reimagined as acts of worldmaking and care, challenging and extending existing aesthetic theories. It aims to provide theoretical insights and practical outcomes, advocating for a reconsideration of the aesthetic and ethical value of care in the arts, crucial for advancing social justice.

Reclaiming Maternal Lineage: The “Parricida” Performance as an Act of Care and Resistance. “Parricida,” is a durational ritual set within a restroom space, challenging the patriarchal norm of familial name inheritance through intimate one-to-one engagements. Inspired by Franz Kafka’s metaphorical use of parricide in "Letter to My Father" to critique authoritarian structures, “Parricida” is an act of resistance against these norms, employing care as its core methodology. Participants, prompted by an attendant while they wash their hands, engage in dialogues reflecting on identity changes if their maternal name was inherited instead of their paternal. This scenario encourages participants to inscribe their first names along with both parents' family names on the restroom mirrors, symbolically reclaiming their maternal lineage. Theoretically, the intervention draws on feminist care ethics, emphasizing performative and body-centric aspects of care as aesthetic and resistive practices. This re-naming act, documented through participant-photographed reflections and their subsequent sharing, serves as both a personal and communal reclamation, and a broader commentary on gender equality. Empirically, the study employs qualitative analysis of the documented dialogues and visual data, illustrating how such interventions can significantly alter perceptions of identity and lineage. This not only foregrounds underrecognized maternal histories but also amplifies narratives that challenge patriarchal oppression, fostering a discourse on gender equality through creative acts of care. The performative intervention will contribute to the dialogue on how artistic practices can be reimagined as acts of worldmaking and care, challenging and extending existing aesthetic theories. It aims to provide theoretical insights and practical outcomes, advocating for a reconsideration of the aesthetic and ethical value of care in the arts, crucial for advancing social justice.

Reclaiming Maternal Lineage: The “Parricida” Performance as an Act of Care and Resistance. “Parricida,” is a durational ritual set within a restroom space, challenging the patriarchal norm of familial name inheritance through intimate one-to-one engagements. Inspired by Franz Kafka’s metaphorical use of parricide in "Letter to My Father" to critique authoritarian structures, “Parricida” is an act of resistance against these norms, employing care as its core methodology. Participants, prompted by an attendant while they wash their hands, engage in dialogues reflecting on identity changes if their maternal name was inherited instead of their paternal. This scenario encourages participants to inscribe their first names along with both parents' family names on the restroom mirrors, symbolically reclaiming their maternal lineage. Theoretically, the intervention draws on feminist care ethics, emphasizing performative and body-centric aspects of care as aesthetic and resistive practices. This re-naming act, documented through participant-photographed reflections and their subsequent sharing, serves as both a personal and communal reclamation, and a broader commentary on gender equality. Empirically, the study employs qualitative analysis of the documented dialogues and visual data, illustrating how such interventions can significantly alter perceptions of identity and lineage. This not only foregrounds underrecognized maternal histories but also amplifies narratives that challenge patriarchal oppression, fostering a discourse on gender equality through creative acts of care. The performative intervention will contribute to the dialogue on how artistic practices can be reimagined as acts of worldmaking and care, challenging and extending existing aesthetic theories. It aims to provide theoretical insights and practical outcomes, advocating for a reconsideration of the aesthetic and ethical value of care in the arts, crucial for advancing social justice.

Reclaiming Maternal Lineage: The “Parricida” Performance as an Act of Care and Resistance. “Parricida,” is a durational ritual set within a restroom space, challenging the patriarchal norm of familial name inheritance through intimate one-to-one engagements. Inspired by Franz Kafka’s metaphorical use of parricide in "Letter to My Father" to critique authoritarian structures, “Parricida” is an act of resistance against these norms, employing care as its core methodology. Participants, prompted by an attendant while they wash their hands, engage in dialogues reflecting on identity changes if their maternal name was inherited instead of their paternal. This scenario encourages participants to inscribe their first names along with both parents' family names on the restroom mirrors, symbolically reclaiming their maternal lineage. Theoretically, the intervention draws on feminist care ethics, emphasizing performative and body-centric aspects of care as aesthetic and resistive practices. This re-naming act, documented through participant-photographed reflections and their subsequent sharing, serves as both a personal and communal reclamation, and a broader commentary on gender equality. Empirically, the study employs qualitative analysis of the documented dialogues and visual data, illustrating how such interventions can significantly alter perceptions of identity and lineage. This not only foregrounds underrecognized maternal histories but also amplifies narratives that challenge patriarchal oppression, fostering a discourse on gender equality through creative acts of care. The performative intervention will contribute to the dialogue on how artistic practices can be reimagined as acts of worldmaking and care, challenging and extending existing aesthetic theories. It aims to provide theoretical insights and practical outcomes, advocating for a reconsideration of the aesthetic and ethical value of care in the arts, crucial for advancing social justice.

Reclaiming Maternal Lineage: The “Parricida” Performance as an Act of Care and Resistance. “Parricida,” is a durational ritual set within a restroom space, challenging the patriarchal norm of familial name inheritance through intimate one-to-one engagements. Inspired by Franz Kafka’s metaphorical use of parricide in "Letter to My Father" to critique authoritarian structures, “Parricida” is an act of resistance against these norms, employing care as its core methodology. Participants, prompted by an attendant while they wash their hands, engage in dialogues reflecting on identity changes if their maternal name was inherited instead of their paternal. This scenario encourages participants to inscribe their first names along with both parents' family names on the restroom mirrors, symbolically reclaiming their maternal lineage. Theoretically, the intervention draws on feminist care ethics, emphasizing performative and body-centric aspects of care as aesthetic and resistive practices. This re-naming act, documented through participant-photographed reflections and their subsequent sharing, serves as both a personal and communal reclamation, and a broader commentary on gender equality. Empirically, the study employs qualitative analysis of the documented dialogues and visual data, illustrating how such interventions can significantly alter perceptions of identity and lineage. This not only foregrounds underrecognized maternal histories but also amplifies narratives that challenge patriarchal oppression, fostering a discourse on gender equality through creative acts of care. The performative intervention will contribute to the dialogue on how artistic practices can be reimagined as acts of worldmaking and care, challenging and extending existing aesthetic theories. It aims to provide theoretical insights and practical outcomes, advocating for a reconsideration of the aesthetic and ethical value of care in the arts, crucial for advancing social justice.

Reclaiming Maternal Lineage: The “Parricida” Performance as an Act of Care and Resistance. “Parricida,” is a durational ritual set within a restroom space, challenging the patriarchal norm of familial name inheritance through intimate one-to-one engagements. Inspired by Franz Kafka’s metaphorical use of parricide in "Letter to My Father" to critique authoritarian structures, “Parricida” is an act of resistance against these norms, employing care as its core methodology. Participants, prompted by an attendant while they wash their hands, engage in dialogues reflecting on identity changes if their maternal name was inherited instead of their paternal. This scenario encourages participants to inscribe their first names along with both parents' family names on the restroom mirrors, symbolically reclaiming their maternal lineage. Theoretically, the intervention draws on feminist care ethics, emphasizing performative and body-centric aspects of care as aesthetic and resistive practices. This re-naming act, documented through participant-photographed reflections and their subsequent sharing, serves as both a personal and communal reclamation, and a broader commentary on gender equality. Empirically, the study employs qualitative analysis of the documented dialogues and visual data, illustrating how such interventions can significantly alter perceptions of identity and lineage. This not only foregrounds underrecognized maternal histories but also amplifies narratives that challenge patriarchal oppression, fostering a discourse on gender equality through creative acts of care. The performative intervention will contribute to the dialogue on how artistic practices can be reimagined as acts of worldmaking and care, challenging and extending existing aesthetic theories. It aims to provide theoretical insights and practical outcomes, advocating for a reconsideration of the aesthetic and ethical value of care in the arts, crucial for advancing social justice.

Reclaiming Maternal Lineage: The “Parricida” Performance as an Act of Care and Resistance. “Parricida,” is a durational ritual set within a restroom space, challenging the patriarchal norm of familial name inheritance through intimate one-to-one engagements. Inspired by Franz Kafka’s metaphorical use of parricide in "Letter to My Father" to critique authoritarian structures, “Parricida” is an act of resistance against these norms, employing care as its core methodology. Participants, prompted by an attendant while they wash their hands, engage in dialogues reflecting on identity changes if their maternal name was inherited instead of their paternal. This scenario encourages participants to inscribe their first names along with both parents' family names on the restroom mirrors, symbolically reclaiming their maternal lineage. Theoretically, the intervention draws on feminist care ethics, emphasizing performative and body-centric aspects of care as aesthetic and resistive practices. This re-naming act, documented through participant-photographed reflections and their subsequent sharing, serves as both a personal and communal reclamation, and a broader commentary on gender equality. Empirically, the study employs qualitative analysis of the documented dialogues and visual data, illustrating how such interventions can significantly alter perceptions of identity and lineage. This not only foregrounds underrecognized maternal histories but also amplifies narratives that challenge patriarchal oppression, fostering a discourse on gender equality through creative acts of care. The performative intervention will contribute to the dialogue on how artistic practices can be reimagined as acts of worldmaking and care, challenging and extending existing aesthetic theories. It aims to provide theoretical insights and practical outcomes, advocating for a reconsideration of the aesthetic and ethical value of care in the arts, crucial for advancing social justice.

Around the Table is a facilitated dinner party with structured directives that create an opportunity for guests to become more physically and emotionally aware of each other's needs before engaging in challenging discussions. The five-course menu features a fusion of dishes from cultural identities involved in The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Deal during 2015. Through topic-based discussions, guests explore negotiation as a concept and consider how their own experiences are situated in a framework of relational ethics. Each question was translated into Farsi, Chinese, Russian, French, Italian, and German on the paper placemats. Guests are encouraged to approach the dinner with curiosity and a desire for nourishment, while also reflecting and responding to specific questions between each course. Reflections are meant to be used as talking points for discussions.

Around the Table is a facilitated dinner party with structured directives that create an opportunity for guests to become more physically and emotionally aware of each other's needs before engaging in challenging discussions. The five-course menu features a fusion of dishes from cultural identities involved in The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Deal during 2015. Through topic-based discussions, guests explore negotiation as a concept and consider how their own experiences are situated in a framework of relational ethics. Each question was translated into Farsi, Chinese, Russian, French, Italian, and German on the paper placemats. Guests are encouraged to approach the dinner with curiosity and a desire for nourishment, while also reflecting and responding to specific questions between each course. Reflections are meant to be used as talking points for discussions.

Around the Table is a facilitated dinner party with structured directives that create an opportunity for guests to become more physically and emotionally aware of each other's needs before engaging in challenging discussions. The five-course menu features a fusion of dishes from cultural identities involved in The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Deal during 2015. Through topic-based discussions, guests explore negotiation as a concept and consider how their own experiences are situated in a framework of relational ethics. Each question was translated into Farsi, Chinese, Russian, French, Italian, and German on the paper placemats. Guests are encouraged to approach the dinner with curiosity and a desire for nourishment, while also reflecting and responding to specific questions between each course. Reflections are meant to be used as talking points for discussions.

Around the Table is a facilitated dinner party with structured directives that create an opportunity for guests to become more physically and emotionally aware of each other's needs before engaging in challenging discussions. The five-course menu features a fusion of dishes from cultural identities involved in The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Deal during 2015. Through topic-based discussions, guests explore negotiation as a concept and consider how their own experiences are situated in a framework of relational ethics. Each question was translated into Farsi, Chinese, Russian, French, Italian, and German on the paper placemats. Guests are encouraged to approach the dinner with curiosity and a desire for nourishment, while also reflecting and responding to specific questions between each course. Reflections are meant to be used as talking points for discussions.

Around the Table is a facilitated dinner party with structured directives that create an opportunity for guests to become more physically and emotionally aware of each other's needs before engaging in challenging discussions. The five-course menu features a fusion of dishes from cultural identities involved in The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Deal during 2015. Through topic-based discussions, guests explore negotiation as a concept and consider how their own experiences are situated in a framework of relational ethics. Each question was translated into Farsi, Chinese, Russian, French, Italian, and German on the paper placemats. Guests are encouraged to approach the dinner with curiosity and a desire for nourishment, while also reflecting and responding to specific questions between each course. Reflections are meant to be used as talking points for discussions.

Around the Table is a facilitated dinner party with structured directives that create an opportunity for guests to become more physically and emotionally aware of each other's needs before engaging in challenging discussions. The five-course menu features a fusion of dishes from cultural identities involved in The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Deal during 2015. Through topic-based discussions, guests explore negotiation as a concept and consider how their own experiences are situated in a framework of relational ethics. Each question was translated into Farsi, Chinese, Russian, French, Italian, and German on the paper placemats. Guests are encouraged to approach the dinner with curiosity and a desire for nourishment, while also reflecting and responding to specific questions between each course. Reflections are meant to be used as talking points for discussions.

Around the Table is a facilitated dinner party with structured directives that create an opportunity for guests to become more physically and emotionally aware of each other's needs before engaging in challenging discussions. The five-course menu features a fusion of dishes from cultural identities involved in The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Deal during 2015. Through topic-based discussions, guests explore negotiation as a concept and consider how their own experiences are situated in a framework of relational ethics. Each question was translated into Farsi, Chinese, Russian, French, Italian, and German on the paper placemats. Guests are encouraged to approach the dinner with curiosity and a desire for nourishment, while also reflecting and responding to specific questions between each course. Reflections are meant to be used as talking points for discussions.

Around the Table is a facilitated dinner party with structured directives that create an opportunity for guests to become more physically and emotionally aware of each other's needs before engaging in challenging discussions. The five-course menu features a fusion of dishes from cultural identities involved in The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran Deal during 2015. Through topic-based discussions, guests explore negotiation as a concept and consider how their own experiences are situated in a framework of relational ethics. Each question was translated into Farsi, Chinese, Russian, French, Italian, and German on the paper placemats. Guests are encouraged to approach the dinner with curiosity and a desire for nourishment, while also reflecting and responding to specific questions between each course. Reflections are meant to be used as talking points for discussions.

The costumes, set, and videos for To Be Seen & Unseen were featured in the group exhibition Fear No Art: Civic Engagement, Histories, Currencies, curated by Dr. Lara Bullock at San Diego Central Library Art Gallery. Guests read writings from previous performances aloud in Farsi, German, Italian, Spanish, and English. Fear No Art: Civic Engagement, Histories, Currencies, invites the public to consider artworks in the City of San Diego’s Civic Art Collection and the narratives that emerge when in dialogue with local contemporary artists. Together, these artworks represent a wide range of themes and approaches, which act as a provocation for the viewer to consider concepts such as institutional critique, the ability of art to effectively speak to and for the masses, the specificity of the Civic Art Collection, and the notion of a collection, itself. Fear No Art is curated by Dr. Lara Bullock and features work by Eric Blau, Donald Borthwick, Mildred Bryant Brooks, Celeste Byers, Collective Magpie, Jung Ho Grant, William Hogarth, Robert Kelly, Leslie William Lee, Jacquelyn Hughes Mooney, John Parot, Cat Chiu Phillips, Charles Reiffel, Zoya Sardashti, Jean Swiggett, Terry Turrell, Jerry O. Wilkerson, and Joe Yorty.

The costumes, set, and videos for To Be Seen & Unseen were featured in the group exhibition Fear No Art: Civic Engagement, Histories, Currencies, curated by Dr. Lara Bullock at San Diego Central Library Art Gallery. Guests read writings from previous performances aloud in Farsi, German, Italian, Spanish, and English. Fear No Art: Civic Engagement, Histories, Currencies, invites the public to consider artworks in the City of San Diego’s Civic Art Collection and the narratives that emerge when in dialogue with local contemporary artists. Together, these artworks represent a wide range of themes and approaches, which act as a provocation for the viewer to consider concepts such as institutional critique, the ability of art to effectively speak to and for the masses, the specificity of the Civic Art Collection, and the notion of a collection, itself. Fear No Art is curated by Dr. Lara Bullock and features work by Eric Blau, Donald Borthwick, Mildred Bryant Brooks, Celeste Byers, Collective Magpie, Jung Ho Grant, William Hogarth, Robert Kelly, Leslie William Lee, Jacquelyn Hughes Mooney, John Parot, Cat Chiu Phillips, Charles Reiffel, Zoya Sardashti, Jean Swiggett, Terry Turrell, Jerry O. Wilkerson, and Joe Yorty.

The costumes, set, and videos for To Be Seen & Unseen were featured in the group exhibition Fear No Art: Civic Engagement, Histories, Currencies, curated by Dr. Lara Bullock at San Diego Central Library Art Gallery. Guests read writings from previous performances aloud in Farsi, German, Italian, Spanish, and English. Fear No Art: Civic Engagement, Histories, Currencies, invites the public to consider artworks in the City of San Diego’s Civic Art Collection and the narratives that emerge when in dialogue with local contemporary artists. Together, these artworks represent a wide range of themes and approaches, which act as a provocation for the viewer to consider concepts such as institutional critique, the ability of art to effectively speak to and for the masses, the specificity of the Civic Art Collection, and the notion of a collection, itself. Fear No Art is curated by Dr. Lara Bullock and features work by Eric Blau, Donald Borthwick, Mildred Bryant Brooks, Celeste Byers, Collective Magpie, Jung Ho Grant, William Hogarth, Robert Kelly, Leslie William Lee, Jacquelyn Hughes Mooney, John Parot, Cat Chiu Phillips, Charles Reiffel, Zoya Sardashti, Jean Swiggett, Terry Turrell, Jerry O. Wilkerson, and Joe Yorty.

The costumes, set, and videos for To Be Seen & Unseen were featured in the group exhibition Fear No Art: Civic Engagement, Histories, Currencies, curated by Dr. Lara Bullock at San Diego Central Library Art Gallery. Guests read writings from previous performances aloud in Farsi, German, Italian, Spanish, and English. Fear No Art: Civic Engagement, Histories, Currencies, invites the public to consider artworks in the City of San Diego’s Civic Art Collection and the narratives that emerge when in dialogue with local contemporary artists. Together, these artworks represent a wide range of themes and approaches, which act as a provocation for the viewer to consider concepts such as institutional critique, the ability of art to effectively speak to and for the masses, the specificity of the Civic Art Collection, and the notion of a collection, itself. Fear No Art is curated by Dr. Lara Bullock and features work by Eric Blau, Donald Borthwick, Mildred Bryant Brooks, Celeste Byers, Collective Magpie, Jung Ho Grant, William Hogarth, Robert Kelly, Leslie William Lee, Jacquelyn Hughes Mooney, John Parot, Cat Chiu Phillips, Charles Reiffel, Zoya Sardashti, Jean Swiggett, Terry Turrell, Jerry O. Wilkerson, and Joe Yorty.