Peripheral Reality

In Iranian culture, the tradition of the Pahlavan extended beyond physical strength, carrying ideals of ethics, generosity, and social responsibility. With the introduction of modern championship wrestling in Iran, many of the traditions and values associated with Varzesh-e Pahlavani gradually became translated into systems of competition, ranking, and medals.

My father was a master of Varzesh-e Pahlavani—the traditional Persian ritual sport practiced in the Zurkhaneh. His desire to lead my brothers and me toward Zurkhaneh, and our experiences of it throughout childhood, kept its rituals, values, and imagery constantly present in my life. Through years of accompanying him, I became familiar with a generation of wrestlers from my hometown of Qazvin, many of them his friends, whose lives unfolded during a transitional period between traditional Pahlavani culture and modern championship wrestling. The champions of this project were active between 1955 and 1985. The traces of those years often survive only through medals once associated with national pride and public recognition—objects that eventually find their way to flea markets or remain forgotten in the memory boxes of retired champions.

The photographic works are constructed through three-layered images: collages drawn from the wrestlers’ personal archives, contemporary portraits of the champions, and the medals suspended before them. From the frontal view, the medal eclipses the face; only through shifting perspectives does the individual gradually re-emerge.

The video installations extend this suspended state of performance. In one work, videos of young wrestlers endlessly confronting invisible opponents are displayed on old televisions positioned across a championship podium. In another, retired champions stand silently before the camera for the duration of a single wrestling round from their era, transforming the endurance of competition into the quiet endurance of the aging body itself.

The project includes nine layered digital photographic works (80 × 80 × 10 cm), a three-channel video installation, and a single-channel video.

Peripheral Reality, Iran, 2009-10 © Tooraj Khamenehzadeh