Chatrbaaz (چترباز)/ The Parachuter (Pilot version)
Nebras Hoveizavi – 360 Degree Video – 9 min - 2021

"The clothes’ color and look are degrading and I blame myself why an art student thought of establishing a family business? Maybe because of the attractiveness of the shine and vibrant colors of the fabrics which I grew up with: Many fabric rolls which were stacked at home; Mom and Haji [my father] at nights returning from Bazaar and starting to roll and fold them constantly, I was both enjoying and in awe with their speed while rolling the bolts: “The dance of fabrics between the cardboards and the wrapping paper”

Nebras Hoveizavi in Chatrbaaz (چترباز)/ The Parachuter, her first VR video, explores the past experiences of herself and a number of eye-witnesses questioning how urgent activities adapted by some families to make the ends meet in hardship of sanctions, labeled as Smuggling, beside addressing the fear associated with it. She narrates a myriad of life experiences and thoughts occurred while crossing borders and passing through customs inspection. Nebras has collaborated with artists Siavash Nagshbandi and Amirali Ghasemi to recreate parts of this journey which is usually hidden from the lens of ordinary citizens yet seen and supervised by the cameras installed by authorities in order to maintain the power.

“The inspector would be looking at me and believe me if he feels like to, otherwise he would ask for my passport, to see my entry stamps, to decide if I can go through the green line with no customs inspection, or god forbid he might point me toward the red corridor, the x-ray machine and tables at the end of the hall, where they open up suitcases for a full search.” Long story short, in this particular trip except two suitcases full of night dresses, I had a hang bag and camera bag full of clothes too. I should say that instead of 2 months I have been away, that I came back after a year…”