Hossein Nakhaei delivers a talk at the University of Hawai'i at Mānao entitled "Every piece you see is a fragment: Persian luster tiles from architectural elements to museum objects." In this talk, he explores fragmentation on three interrelated levels: material fragmentation—the physical breakage caused during their removal and through their subsequent circulation among dealers and collectors; compositional fragmentation—the separation of tiles from their original ensembles; and contextual fragmentation—the removal of those ensembles from their architectural, sensorial, and cultural contexts. This talk argues that the understanding of these tiles changes depending on the scale at which they are examined, and that at each level profound layers of violence and loss resulting from their displacement are uncovered.
Watch the full lecture on Shangri La's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3zBO61nBZQ
Read Hossein Nakhaei's student profile here: https://www.haa.pitt.edu/people/hossein-nakhaei