Artists statement

In the islands of the Strait of Hormuz off the souther coast of Iran a distinctive local culture has emerged as the result of many centuries of cultural and economic exchange, the traces of which are seen not only in the material culture of these islands but also in the customs and beliefs of their inhabitants.

Central to these beliefs in the existence of winds - generally thought of as harmful - that may possess a person, causing her to experience illness or disease, and a corresponding ritual practice involving incense, music and movement in which an hereditary cult leader speaks with the wind through the afflicted patience in one of many local or foreign tongues in order to negotiate its exit.

Wider beliefs about these winds permeate the culture but are seldom openly discussed - whether because of suspicion or because of belief in the power of language to manifest the invisible.

While their exact origins are unclear, the existence of similar beliefs and practices in many African countries suggests that the cult may have been brought to the south of Iran from southeast Africa through the Arab slave trade - an account that agrees wth that of many locals who hold that the winds themselves travel from Ethiopia.

For locals and visitors too, these beliefs resonate with the surreal landscape of the islands - a landscape of strange valleys and statue-like mountains that have been slowly carved by wind over many millennia.

This project documents the history of these winds and the visible traces they have left on these islands and their inhabitants - a visible record of the invisible seen through the eye of the imagination.

Artist Bio
Hoda Afshar was born in Tehran, Iran (1983), and is now based in Naarm (Melbourne), Australia. She completed a Bachelor's degree in Fine Art – Photography in Tehran, and her Ph.D. thesis in Creative Arts at Curtin University. Hoda began her career as a documentary photographer in Iran in 2005, and since 2007 she has been living in Australia where she practices as a visual artist and also lectures in photography and fine art.