First Encounter*
Painting Performance (+ Video Documentation), 2023
In Collaboration with Minoo Kiani
Cognition or imagination? Which one is closer to our perception of a person when we first encounter them?
The process of getting to know someone is mysterious. With each conversation and further communication, our perception of a new person becomes clearer, but it never fully captures his/her true essence. How can we truly understand each other when we are constantly changing over time? Getting to know each other is a continuous journey that lasts as long as we live. We have no choice but to repaint the perception we have of each other in order to get closer to reality.
Minoo Kiani and I conducted an experiment in which we recorded a video of ourselves painting self-portraits without looking at the sheet. Later, in a private studio (Mehrdad Jafari’s Studio), we stood in front of each other's videos and painted each other. Eventually, my image of her overlapped with her self-perception/self-portrait. The same thing happened with my self-image and her perception of me.
Watch the full painting performance on YouTube.
Watch the original recorded and edited video (shown during the performance) here.