"There is No Such Thing as a Big Story" Siamak Filizadeh
 November 2021 Translated by Parisa Hakim Javadi

"There exists nothing as an all-encompassing story is what I Siamak Filizadeh, have strived towards in the past few years, in order to shatter and sort the metanarrative of history. It all began from the series Underground and has reached this point today. These scrutinizing efforts transform the narratives of history (say, the past) into the present and abolish the boundaries between reality and imagination. All these images. collages, people and places arise from my own disquiet and angst. By this exhibition of my works, I intend to share my sense of overwhelm and rupture with all who view these images and stories. The question ! pose is this: are you as overwhelmed as I am? The concurrence and multilayeredness of stories and events in these montages are not mythical or illusory, Rather, they seem to give accounts of our present time The diminutive stories of this project are as much remote from me as they are near. The narrative of the Torah, the Bible, and the Quran takes place on the streets of an apparently imaginary city, which seems to be part of our surrounding neighborhood, maybe even our own city. The oil-eater, the commander, the savior, the joker, all are indicative of my imaginary, fanciful relation to the city and society in which I live, as if I have no way to live other than displaying the multilayered, disjointed presence of this fragmented society You didn't say whether you are as overwhelmed as I or not. Everything lies in these details, in the texture of concrete walls, in the color of attires, in the agitated faces, in dreads and parties and a thousand other details, picked one by one, photographed one by one and arranged together in a narrative whole. "There exists nothing as an all-encompassing story tells the story of these insignificant lost details which arose from metanarratives and became narrators of micro-stories neither imaginary nor realistic, neither belonging to reality nor finding a place in imagination. As if citizens of this
city are the builders of the Tower of Babel, intending to reach God. The Tower of Babel was ruined but the idea of reaching God remained Perhaps all high-rise buildings suggest this notion of reaching God. The story of Babel is known to all: If you intend to reach God's status, he will mix and alter your language, destroying the possibility of communication. My story gives another account of reaching God's status and consequently suffering his condemnation. This time, the Tower is built to the end, containing manifold offices and shopping malls for his honor, the Commander. Its tip is far from view, concealed in boundless sky, as if it has reached God. This time, God has not condemn man and has not alter and mix his language. There has been no reason to do so. The city dwellers have lost the ability of understanding each other, even when sharing a common language. Our story's God need not worry There exists nothing as an all-encompassing story.