Sara Rajaei
The Headless Trees (2018-...)
The Headless Trees is my first feature film; structured in chapters, told in reverse order, reviewing the story of Raana (a woman in her mid-50s) and her family, living in an undefined country inspired by historical events of contemporary Iran in the period between the 1980s and 1930s. The Headless Trees will be produced by near/by film and is financially supported by Mondriaan Fonds and DKC Rotterdam.
Agnès, Laura, Helena & the others (2013-...)
Agnès, Laura, Helena & the others is the first presentation of my ongoing project; The picture book without pictures, a comprehensive artistic research on the oeuvre of the Czech author Milan Kundera. The project centers on language, examining Kundera’s body of work and his struggle with translation, seeing himself as misinterpreted, mistranslated and misunderstood.
While the first part of the project specifically focuses on text, the second part brings together a series of larger than life-size pencil drawings inspired by some of Kundera’s characters, creating an archive of bodies. These were envisioned and drawn through my reading of Kundera’s literal descriptions which voice his emotional distance, and analytical criticism of his characters’ traits and physical appearances.
Yet Another Leap Year (2020-...)
Studying the course of event that took place on the first two week of February 2020...
Werk
Bio
In her work, she studies the notion of time by reflecting on the absence of image, memory psychology, oral history, narrative techniques, and physical/psychological space. Her artistic oeuvre consists of short films, video installations (and drawings) which remain in-between storytelling and imagery.
After her graduation from the Royal Academy of Art The Hague in 2002, Rajaei attended a 2-year residency at the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten Amsterdam.
In 2009, she was awarded Prix de Rome basic prize.
Her work has been exhibited at various art venues and festivals around the world. Notable shows include de Appel arts center, Stroom Den Haag, Rotterdam film festival, Rencontres Internationales Paris Berlin Madrid, Art Brussels, Stiftelsen 3.14 Bergen/Norway, Museum of Modern & Contemporary art Rijeka/Croatia, Galerie Nouvelles Images, Tent Rotterdam and many more.