Epistola Avium
Epistola Avium
Ali Ettehad
Ali Ettehad
Epistola Avium is a video-based exhibition by Ali Ettehad inspired by The Epistle of the Birds, attributed to Ibn Sina and later translated by Suhrawardi. The story of birds held in captivity — who gradually forget their ability to fly — forms the conceptual ground of the exhibition.
In Ettehad’s works, captivity is not imposed from outside but slowly internalized. The birds are
restrained by what remains attached to them: habits, memories, and perceptions that shape the mind.
Yet flight remains possible. The exhibition returns repeatedly to this tension — between what binds us
and what still allows movement.
Across a series of video works created between 2024 and 2026, often in collaboration with the 366th
Performing Art Group, Epistola Avium reflects on freedom not as escape, but as remembrance. Even
when traces of restraint persist, the capacity to move — to imagine, to perceive differently — has not
disappeared. What is at stake is not release, but recognition.
Works in the Exhibition
Epistola Avium (2026)
The central work of the exhibition, reimagining The Epistle of the Birds as a contemporary visual meditation on captivity, memory, and spiritual journey.
The central work of the exhibition, reimagining The Epistle of the Birds as a contemporary visual meditation on captivity, memory, and spiritual journey.
Over the Cube (2025)
This work considers perception as a closed structure — a cube within which all images and meanings are formed — and suggests that cessation, rather than effort, may open another dimension.
This work considers perception as a closed structure — a cube within which all images and meanings are formed — and suggests that cessation, rather than effort, may open another dimension.
Birds of Nothingness (2025)
Using the image of a passing flock, this work reflects on movement without final destination and on return as the only certainty.
Using the image of a passing flock, this work reflects on movement without final destination and on return as the only certainty.
Maybe the Next Time (2024)
A work shaped around repetition and postponement, where anticipation becomes a state rather than a progression.
A work shaped around repetition and postponement, where anticipation becomes a state rather than a progression.
Semi No Kara (2025)
A short documentary directed by Melika Behjat, presented as contextual material offering insight into Ali Ettehad’s artistic practice and the conceptual foundations of the exhibition.
A short documentary directed by Melika Behjat, presented as contextual material offering insight into Ali Ettehad’s artistic practice and the conceptual foundations of the exhibition.