Aljoscha Farassat

ABOUT THE ARTIST

​

Born in Austria to an Austrian mother and an Iranian father fled from the Islamic Revolution Aljoscha Farassat’s national identity is one of a fugitive. His father, Djamshid Farassat, was head of the Urban Design and Planning Department for the Shah Reza Pahlevi of Iran. Once his assignment was

eliminated in 1979, he and his growing family escaped the rubble of the Islamic Revolution. For decades he grieves the loss of his national identity and his nation. When a nation changes its nature of government and ideology, can its citizens still identify it as home? What loyalty is expected from those who cannot identify with a new regime?

And what of the next generation of those who have fled one nation to another; a descendant who neither looks like those of his republic nor identifies with the estranged homeland of his father? What does he anticipate throughout legal procedures that crescendo with a raised hand in allegiance to a nation where he will always be seen as other? What does he believe looking at his passport that declares he is this and not that; he belongs here and not there? Due to changing laws around citizenship & age, Aljoscha’s unique coordinated of time & space slipped into a crack disavowing him of citizenship to either country until the age of 20.

 

Questions of identity and belonging haunt Aljoscha’s work. The nearest conception of home for him is New York City, one of the most diverse cities in the world. Where not belonging is to belong.

 

https://www.aljoschafarassat.com