Silent Spectators: A Poetry film Journey through Iran's echoing mountains
Silent Spectators is a short audio-visual diary (6:58’) made in 2023 by Yasaman Tamizkar & Lizzy Zaanen in collaboration with Kiosk.art. It is a personal story written and narrated by Yasaman, diving back into childhood memories and thoughts regarding the mountains in Iran. ‘Silent Spectators’ symbolizes security, guidance, and freedom, but most importantly, today, they symbolize resistance. The narration is guided with black and white slow-motion video works by Lizzy Zaanen, supporting the personal story of Yasaman. This video projection was Screened during ‘Omgeving Celbeton’ at Cultuurcentrum Belgica in Dendermonde in May 2023 and was accompanied by another video compilation created from footages taken by anonymous civilians in Iran during the ‘Woman Life Freedom’ movement.
The video was then participated as part of the Youth Biennale in Serbia in 2025 curated by Tane Laketic. This ongoing movement started on September 2022 following the murder of Maha Jina Amini-a 22-year-old Kurdish-Iranian woman, by the morality police in Iran for allegedly not wearing the hijab in accordance with government standards. The Silent Spectators is both playing the main role, being witness to different events in the history of Iran as well as the symbol of resistance in Persian poetry.
The imagery of mountains and rocks as messengers, echoing tales through millennia, evokes a sense of reverence for these gigantic natural beings. The comparison to vinyl records, each layer akin to a musical note in the grand symphony of time, exemplifies my profound connection to these geological giants. The notion that traversing these mountains unveils the stories of humanity's journey speaks to the interdependent relationship between nature and history, where landscapes become living and breathing archives. As a child, the very shapes of the rocks played a significant role in shaping a vivid visual narrative in my mind. Passing by the mountains on the roads by car was akin to watching an animation, where the contours and forms of the rocks animated stories and adventures before my eyes
The mountains of Iran are more than geological formations; they are living embodiments of history, resilience, and human connection. This video invites viewers to contemplate their own relationships with politics, activism, history, personal identity, and poetry reminding us that amidst the ever-changing world, the echoes of mountains-nature, persist – steadfast, unyielding, and forever woven into the fabric of our lives.
In collaboration with HISK, KASK, ExtraCity
Photos by © Van den Bussche-Vanden Bossche