On the floor lies a fragmented life-size replica of a large ancient limestone piece originally removed from the ruins of Persepolis. The scattered fragments depict the process by which the limestone was broken into smaller pieces to facilitate its transportation and eventual dissemination. Created using 3D printing, the fragments are coated with a mixture of crude oil, limestone, and resin. They bear no detailed resemblance to the original relief they reference, instead evoking its shape and size while emphasizing the irretrievable loss caused by its forced dislocation and subsequent disappearance.
Accompanying the floor sculpture is a large black-and-white photograph of a reassembled shredded document, referencing the numerous intelligence reports and documents destroyed by U.S. embassy officers in Tehran before being held hostage by student militants. Aware of U.S. political interventions in Iran, Iranian revolutionaries painstakingly pieced these documents back together. The artist draws a parallel here: between human and object hostages and their roles in international politics, as well as between the U.S. embassy seizure by Iranian students and the seizure of the ancient relief.
