Xvarnah

Single Channel Video on Billboard, 03:20ms

Xvarnah, meaning the Glory of Light, comes from the 12th-century Persian philosopher Sohrevardi and his philosophy of Illumination. In this philosophy, Light represents the visionary organ of the soul, which, ontologically, reveals truth and knowledge in the pursuit of justice, especially amid pernicious, evil forces.

Xvarnah is a single-channel video honoring Iranian women and their ongoing battle to bring justice and freedom, which has been absent for the past four decades. This video spotlights the Xvarnah of woman, the divine truth, through the power of dance, which not only is in protest against the regime's harsh laws that prohibit women from doing so but also in line with the practice of dance in ancient Iran in attaining knowledge, inner peace, and connecting to the world. And it is through this dance that women find their inner Xvarnah to bring about life and freedom to all by ridding the earth of darkness.