This talk and screening by UCSD MFA-Visual Arts candidate Elmira Mohebali is the sixth in the 2014 IDEAS performance series. The Epic of Gilgamesh is a long-term video project based on extensive and continuous research of the original mythology, believed to be the oldest literary text discovered in human history, dating to the first Ancient Mesopotamian civilization. There are several ongoing paintings, photographs, and short videos being made based on the research as well as personal and professional interviews. In her art practice, Elmira Mohebali considers raising questions to be a crucial aspect. In her work, she does not necessarily propose solutions or answers, but she finds these worth addressing. Each of her videos highlights a certain questionable approach toward gender and sexuality within our society. In A Tale of Love and Revenge, Mohebali examines many issues that repeated through the years since ancient times. The orientalist exoticization of the eastern female body in the postcolonial era, binary gender constructions and power struggles between these constructed genders are a few of the issues addressed in this work.

• Thursday, August 21, 2014

• Luong, Vivian

• Mohebali, Elmira

Director and writer Elmira Mohebali graduated with a BA degree in video art from UCLA in 2008, and she is currently a Visual Arts MFA candidate at UC San Diego. Her art practice is an exploration of her understanding of contemporary Iranian gender and sexual struggles through researching Ancient Mesopotamian history.

Related

• IDEAS Performance via YouTube
• Program on Calit2
• Roger Record

• Mohebali, Elmire

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2021-09-29