Mahshid Afzali (Islamic Republic of Iran)
Duration: 5′ 10″
Streets and places in Tehran are full of names that have changed over time with the emergence of various ideologies, and this has an impact on the collective identity of the people and the city. These names are a part of the city’s identity, and our memories of them are also a part of it. Changing the names causes confusion in the identity of the city, because our memories turn into abstract images that we no longer have in the real world, and we lose our connection to the past. New identities are fake and artificial, they have no past or memories and they seem like meaningless words. Unaware that the collective memory is on its own path, preserving history within itself and reclaiming its identity. The city and its streets become a memorial that has recorded everything; like a cemetery that is filled with the dead of years, and under each tombstone lies a buried memory and past.
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