A book by Hannah Darabi
Designed by Myriam Barchechat
Published by GwinZegal, 2021
220 pages – 22 × 28 cm
ISBN 979-10-94060-35-3
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Soleil of Persian Square is a study of the visual identity of the Iranian diaspora’s way of life in Los Angeles. This study seeks to give a face to the fictive city that goes by the name of Tehrangeles, which she discovered through images associated with pop music during her teenage years. The goal is to forge connections between ordinary landscapes of Los Angeles or Orange County — as carriers of traces of the Iranian diaspora — portraits of their inhabitants, and pop culture objects including cassette-tape liner notes, song lyrics, screenshots of music videos from the 1980s and 1990s, and phonebook pages devoted to businesses of the Iranian diaspora. Soleil of Persian Square designates not only a journey from real to imaginary spaces, but also a way of life and mode of thought embodied in popular culture. This culture stands in opposition to the moral values of the current Iranian regime, and at the same time it has drawn criticism from intellectuals for its “low art” aspect. Nevertheless, it has survived, particularly because of Tehrangeles pop. This music that we love to “hate” has never lost its place in the heart of our dispersed nation, and it has never stopped making our bodies move, whether in a taxi in Tehran, at a friend’s place in Paris, or at a concert in Toronto.