Video Works

I AM AN ELEPHANT

I AM AN ELEPHANT

Video installation, 2014 

Two-channel HD video, ca. 5:30 min

I Am an Elephant is a two-channel video installation that deals with the theme of migration, identity, and social exclusion in terms of allegory. In this work, the story revolves around the journey of an elephant to a mythical city of animals, where the inhabitants include a poetic parrot, an intellectual monkey, and a carpenter donkey.

Upon entering the city, the elephant accidentally falls and breaks one of his tusks. The residents of the city then decide to “assist” the elephant by re-designing his body. In this case, the remaining tusk is fixed to his forehead, and his trunk is cut off. In order to be accepted by the authorities, the elephant has to choose a new name and identity. This work has been inspired by Shahr-e Ghesseh, also known as the City of Tales, a renowned allegory musical play written in 1967 by the famous Iranian playwright Bijan Mofid. This musical play has been written in the form of allegory, similar to the video work, where animal figures and folkloric content have been used to convey complex social and political issues in the form of a simple storyline.

Mladen is part of a sequence of video performances in which Entekhabi takes on various male personas, examining the ways in which stereotypes around migration, masculinity, and cultural difference are constructed, disseminated, and finally subverted.

Through such a metaphorical form, "I Am an Elephant" reflects on the demands made of migrants to transform their identities in order to conform to social frameworks. The work reflects on the ways in which migrants' cultures are mediated, transformed, and even erased through adaptation, normalization, and control. In such a form, the elephant becomes a metaphor for the vulnerable process of identity transformation in contemporary society.

Exhibitions & Screenings (selection)

2014: Animal Era, AARAN gallery, Tehran, Iran