HEDJLEH (DENKMAL)
Sculpture/ Installation by Ahoo Maher

In Iran there are two objects which share the name “Hedjleh”. One is the wedding bed that the bride and groom spend their first night in, and the other one is a memorial to the un-experienced joy of young men who have passed away before having the chance to marry. In this installation, I have taken elements from both original objects and combined and reinterpreted them in order to create my own Hedjleh.
In this case, the Hedjleh is an object or monument that is erected in a public space in memory of young, deceased men who had not yet had their wedding night. I began by examining the Hedjleh form and its correspond-ing symbolism. As there is no written material to be found,
I decided to conduct my own interviews with local people in various parts of the country in order to reflect the diverse re-gional uses and practices relating to Hedjleh in Iran. Through research, I found out about a ceremony that takes place every year in central Iran – a giant piece of wood in the form of a cedar tree is processed through the city, commemorating the death of the third Shia Imam Hussein. For my installation it was important to combine the different elements of these two quite distinct Hedjleh monuments. By adopting the mosaic-mirrored appearance of the mourn-ing Hedjleh, I am forcing the viewer to confront their own broken reflection and ultimately, their own transience. From the wedding Hedjleh I retained the decorative elements; the two-part form representing the female sexual organ, which stands for birth and life or the next world. The light inside is green – a sacred color in Islam symbolizing spring, freedom, and silence.

PASSING THROUGH TIME
Sharing of Diary through storytelling (15min) by Ahoo Maher

Ahoo started working on this series in the form of a “visual diary” in November 2012 after her frustration with keeping a “written” diary. “I’ve never been good at writing, but have always wanted to keep a diary, as a documentation of my life. I started with writing, but that did
not satisfy my need… so I tried to use a different way…I always did sketches and doodles, so I used these very things…” In the beginning, Ahoo did sketches and collages as diary entries in a notebook for herself, but after presenting some of them at her university, she started a
visual blog on Tumblr, “Ahoo’s Diary”. Her earlier works were influenced by news pieces and what was happening around her, but the entries became more personal over time. Her recent works which are mostly self-portraits have been inspired by the recent trend in sharing selfies
in social media. The current works have been selected from over 300 diary entries. The works were all created using material that was readily available, using the
simplest techniques. The audience can browse through Ahoo’s diary, create narratives in their minds, and look through the window of the artist’s life.

BIO
Ahoo Maher

Ahoo Maher comes from a family of artists in Iran and has lived in Austria since 2008.
Between 2009 and 2011, she studied music education at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
Vienna to study music education. In 2017, she completed her studies in Contextual Painting under the guidance of Ashley Scheirl at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. She has participated in several solo exhibitions in Austria and Iran as well as numerous international group exhibitions. As co-founder of the association “ANN für Kunst, Culture and Solidarity“, she is actively involved. The focus of her artistic work is on depicting the realities of life from the perspective of women. which she depicts using various media such as drawing, painting, installations, and performances. She works as a freelance artist, performer, and curator in Vienna.

Image credits: Ahoo Maher, Paintings: „another purple day“, „did it“ & „sober in a party“ / installation: „HEDJLEH“ )