image description

RAH ELEH – SUPERNOVA

SuperNova is a talent show parody that consists of seven characters that Rah performs. The performers are Oreo, Fatimeh, and Coco and each of their acts examine issues of race and ethnic performance.

Oreo performs a magic trick with a deck of white “race cards,” Fatimeh sings and performs a neo-orientalist ethnic identity and Coco performs a dance as a diasporic and hybrid subject. The characters perform in the galaxy Messier 82 and present their talent in front of a panel of judges; Sirius, Mira and Bellatrix. Each judge is named after the brightest star in various constellations and each judge represents a character, Sirius mirrors Oreo, Mira mirrors Fatimeh, and Bellatrix mirrors Coco. The talent show sets an ideal stage to critically examine race and ethnic performance.

The piece also explores ethno futurism. It presents the future as a site to deconstruct and reconstruct history. The audience are aliens that wear hijabs and ululate. Eastern subjects are often represented as frozen in time, seemingly untouched by modernity, therefore, the ululation and hijabs situates this eastern audience in the future.

SuperNova examines the socio-political, temporal, linguistic and spatial factors that contribute to the formation of identity. The work is currently a multiple channel video installation. The multiplicity of channels is synonymous with the many subjectivities and spaces (digital, liminal, and material world) that this work explores. Moreover, SuperNova’s constructed digital environment and the green screen aims to expose the construction and fixidity of identity categories.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Rah Eleh is an Iranian-Canadian digital and performance artist. Eleh’s work has been published and exhibited in galleries and museums internationally. Eleh is represented by Vtape, Canada’s leading artist-run distributor for video art.

You can join her for an artist talk to dive deeper into the themes and concepts of this new work on Thursday September 13th at 6pm.

MAUD LEWIS

REALISM’S REACH

Stay up to date with the AGNS newsletter