Displacement &
Crafted Identities
Translating experiential knowledge into
digital environment

Sadaf Asl Soleimani

Displacement &
Crafted Identities
Translating experiential knowledge into digital environment
By
Sadaf Asl Soleimani
Bachelor of Design, Visual Communication
2017, Tehran University of Fine Arts

A CRITICAL AND PROCESS DOCUMENTATION THESIS PAPER SUBMITTED IN
PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF
MASTER OF DESIGN
EMILY CARR UNIVERSITY OF ART + DESIGN
2024

© Sadaf Asl Soleimani, 2024

Abstract
With the urgency that calls for immediate actions regarding our current political and
social climates, specifically concerning women's rights in the Middle East, this research
takes a closer look into the fundamental values of systems. It aims to identify the
occasions in which individuals are experiencing displacement. Displacement of home
(about Afghan women refugees), Displacement of letters (about the visual aspect of
verbal communication), and Displacement of self (about the Women, Life, Freedom
movement in Iran) comprise the main chapters in which I investigate the role and
translation of experiential knowledge in this paper.
This thesis investigates the methods by which experiential knowledge can be
translated and transposed into the digital environment as a way of communication.
Throughout this paper, the reader will find a collection of ‘stories’ emerging from researchcreation, secondary research, research-through-design, and participatory reflections.
Works of design and craft are curated to investigate and translate experiential knowledge
through various methods of communication within the digital realm.

Keywords:
Displacement, Embodied Interaction, System Design, Craft, Experiential Knowledge, Morethan-Human

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Acknowledgements
I would like to extend a special thanks to my supervisor, Eugenia Bertulis,
for providing me with unlimited support throughout this journey, thoroughly
examining this work, and offering words of encouragement. I have learned a
lot from you, and I will always be grateful for that.
I am grateful to Keith Doyle for providing thoughtful feedback and constant
inspiration on this document.
I also want to thank Hélène Day Fraser, Jen Hiebert, Haig Armen, and
Rodrigo Santo for their generous guidance and incredible support.
To my MDes and MFA cohort, I deeply appreciate your insights.
Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my Mom and Dad, my sister
Marjan, my brother Yahya, and my wonderful partner Ariya. Without your
support and encouragement, I would not be able to stand here today.

2

Table of Contents
Abstract and Keywords
Acknowledgements
Glossary of Terms
Introduction
Positionality
Stories of Making - Part 1
Click me Printing App (Language and Displacement)
Discourse and Displacement
Sofreh (Displacement of Self + Displacemment of Letters)
Displacement of Home
Weaving in Virtual Reality
Systems
Modes of Inquiry
Stories of Making - Part 2
Weaving Together
Names I Should Remember, Stories I Shouldn't Forget
Crafted Identities
Experiential Knowledge
Final Story
Kian
Conclusion
References

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1
2
4
5
7
10
12
17
21
25
27
29
32
35
36
40
42
48
51
52
60
62

Glossary of Terms
Displacement:
The aftermath of a systematic relation wherein individuals operating within
a given system are consistently excluded from it.
System:
A set of elements or parts that is coherently organized and interconnected
in a pattern or structure that produces a characteristic set of behaviors,
often classified as its “function” or “purpose” (Meadows, 2008)
Interaction Design:
Interaction Design is the creation of a dialogue between a person and a
product, service, or system (Kolko, 2011)
Embodied Interaction:
The interplay between the brain and the body and its influence on the
sharing, creation and manipulation interactions with technology. (LeeCultura & Giannakos, 2021)
Participatory Design:
A collaborative design approach that involves end-users in the design
process. Its aim is to create products and services that better meet
the needs and expectations of users by applying their knowledge and
experiences. (Interaction Design Foundation - IxDF, 2023)

4

Introduction

Figure showing Ghoba Rug, from Ghafghaz, Iran

I am from Iran, I am a designer and I have encountered various forms of displacement in design and
daily life. This has inspired me to reexamine my experiences and investigate the origins of my behaviors
through the lens of interaction design. Growing up in a system that refuses to acknowledge women as
independent individuals, finding my own voice and values has always been a challenge. Even as a designer,
I was prohibited from depicting women or any symbols of femininity in my designs. Yet, finding ways to
convey the presence of femininity in my work, became one of my areas of focus. By femininity, not only
I am referring to cultural and social definitions for those who identify as female (physical and behavioral
attributes), but also all that represents the fight against oppression and expressions of freedom. Under a
governing Islamic Regime, this form of oppression is exercised by constantly removing and censoring any
color, line or word that refers to femininity from the face of society in Iran (from billboards, movies and
architecture to school books and enforcing Hijab rules).
This form of discrimination is not exclusive to women in patriarchal societies. The roots of systematic
discrimination seem the same when looking at the history of racism against Indigenous communities in North
America, prejudice against the LGBTQ2S+ community, or even individuals with disabilities and physical
differences. The totalitarian mindset that shapes various systems in our society adapts its presentation, but
not its core values. It shifts from how we influence our environment to how we address gender inequality
or even how we neglect those who interact with the language system differently.

5

My research closely examines instances of displacement and analyzes the behavioural patterns
of affected individuals. I believe that by understanding these patterns, we can displace the values
and functions inherent in predefined systems. This, in turn, can pave the way for more precise
and crafted interactions with both ourselves and the predefined systems. We can observe the
displacement of emotions in the approach the women in Iran have chosen regarding their fight for
their basic human rights. We see the adverse shift in the refugee (forcibly displaced) crisis because
of the current war in Ukraine and Afghanistan, and also we may have encountered displacement
of letters when interacting with language. In this investigation, displacement is referred to a state
of being, not a specific act or function.
Using graphemes and phonemes, we have designed words that can (almost) define our state of
being. (more or less). As Ingold writes in the foreword of Non-Representational Methodologies: ReEnvisioning Research: “Words are, indeed, our most precious possessions and should be treated as
such, like a casket of sparkling jewels.”(Vannini, 2015). In other words, not only we have designed
language systems as a means of communication, but we also consider them as part of ourselves.
When we closely examine modes of cognitive processes, we find that individuals receive data
differently from their spatial environment. Sometimes we rely more on our visual senses, while
other times we depend on our auditory or kinetic senses as part of our literacy learning process.
The response to these sensory inputs also varies, resulting in tailored modifications in how we
communicate within the language system. But, because we regard words as “possessions”, we
automatically seek to protect this possession regardless of who uses the system. Consequently,
as long as we prioritize these systems over crafted modes of interaction, we continue to displace
individuals from these systems.
Although crafting typically pertains to the work of the hand, in my practice, I view craft as a
process encompassing both manual labour and the creation of a tailored piece. This approach
involves engaging multiple senses simultaneously and often requires a significant amount of time
to complete.
For me and many women in my community, digital platforms have been gateways to the unknown,
places where we can explore and discover our true selves. Looking at the history of expression
and representation, there are instances in which individuals communicate their stories through
craftsmanship. Leveraging modern technology, we can integrate the act of craftsmanship into
digital communication, recognizing that some narratives demand multi-sensory comprehension
beyond words and images. How individuals with learning differences interact with language,
how Iranian women have been fighting for their basic human rights, or how Afghan women have
been surviving in refugee camps, are the stories that have been told but not truly understood.
Understanding the experiences of displaced individuals requires acknowledging the experiential
knowledge embedded in their narratives. For me, this project is not about advocating for displaced
individuals or raising awareness about their situations; it's about creating opportunities to craft our
interactions in the digital world by mirroring how displaced individuals have crafted their identities
as a means of survival.
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Positionality
My research and current practice are rooted in a personal and acute
space. It is a container that holds my designer “self” both in Tehran and
Vancouver. For the first time in my 7 years of practice as a designer, I
had the opportunity to take my time and address several matters that
I felt unfinished when I left Tehran. Shortly after I arrived in Vancouver,
Mahsa Amini was arrested by the Morality police and then killed
after being brutally assaulted. On the day of her funeral, participants
constantly repeated the words “Zhan, Zhian, Azadi” in Kurdish. Which
was then translated to Woman, Life, Freedom in English. The hidden
anger and sorrow were lit, and it resulted in months of protests. The
protestors, with the slogan “Woman, life, freedom” had hoped to change
the misogynistic rules embedded in the constitutions of the Islamic
Regime once and for all. As always, the government’s answer to those
protests was bullets and blood. To this day, several activities, musicians,
actors, and civilians are in prison, waiting for their sentencing. Nika
Shakarami (16 years old), Sarina Esmailzadeh (16 years old), Kian Pirfalak
(10 years old), Armita Gervanad (16 years)... among many victims of the
Government’s brutality.

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1500 Tasvir is an anonymous
private news community
in Iran (Instagram ID:
@1500tasvir_list)that has
tried to gather the names
of all those who have been
arrested, killed or waiting for
their sentencing since the
beginning of the Woman, life,
Freedom movement.

Timeline

Death of
Mahsa Amini

Death of
Sarina Esmailzadeh
September 30st

2022, September

September 16th

September 21st

Start of Woman, Life,
Freedom movement

Zahedan Massacre

I arrived in Vancouver

Death of
Nika Shakarami

Death of
Kian Pirfalak

And it continues

October 3rd

November 15th

Thousands of arrests, deaths,
executions, abduction...
Internet cut off and limitation
Social Media (Instagram, X,
Whatsapp..) filtering

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Overwhelming anxiety, anger and guilt were all new to me as a design
researcher at Emily Carr University, and at the same time, these emotions
felt old, never-ending and persistent. Therefore, without noticing, I
started to reflect on my previous experiences through my practice
and asked myself: why are these feelings familiar? Why does my body
experience the same old reaction in this new environment? Is it because
I was Mahsa? Is it because I know there are going to be more people
like Mahsa? After months of self-reflection, I concluded that I had been
experiencing yet another form of displacement.
Displacement is about acknowledging the moment when you leave part of
you, your home, your words, your body and your mind behind. For Deleuze
& Guattari (1980) it is called a Body Without Organs. Their description
of the Body Without Organs is: “The BwO [body without organs] is what
remains when you take everything away. What you take away is precisely
the phantasy, and significances and subjectifications as a whole.” (Deleuze
& Guattari, 1980) In other words, being in an occasion that forces you to
change/adjust your method of function, affects your whole being. This
acceptance doesn’t only affect one aspect of our life experience, it also
redefines our identity, our positionality and the limits of our fantasies.

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Stories of Making
Part 1

I define displacement as the result of a systematic relation wherein individuals
operating within a given system are consistently excluded from it. The basis for
rejection lies in an individual's differing goals or methods of functioning that do
not align with the system’s values. Consequently, these individuals are labelled
as “outsiders” or “displaced” by the system. Despite living in or engaging with the
system in their daily experiences, continual barriers and obstacles are imposed to
emphasize their exclusion.
I started by collecting stories of displacement from Afghan women
in refugee camps, children who struggle with displacement in the
English language, and the continuous fight of women in Iran. During
my research, I worked on various design projects as responses to those
stories, reflecting on how they have been affecting displaced individuals,
and how their responses can be translated into a digital environment.

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Click me Printing App
(Language and Displacement)

Displacement in language can manifest in various forms. My first
encounter with this concept was as a volunteer educator in Tehran
back in 2015, where I had the opportunity to work with neurodivergent
students with Dyslexia. Displacement is a common symptom of visual
dyslexia, impacting an individual's ability to learn, spell, or form letters
(Levinson Medical Center for Learning Disabilities). Globally, 20-15
percent of the population has Dyslexia (Dyslexia Canada). Although
there hasn't been extensive research on Persian-speaking individuals,
it has been reported that 20 percent of Iranian students have Dyslexia
(Irna, 2017).
In collaboration with Elementary Curriculum Digitizers (ECD) I have
been assigned to develop and produce literacy learning material for
first grade students. In this research project, we are producing materials
based on 5 different modes of learning. Visual, Auditor, and Kinesthetic
learning, as well as Sequential and Nature learning. Our approach
toward these modes of learning is to provide early literacy learners
with all the information and material that they may require during their
literacy learning process. Unlike other digital applications that are based
on progressive disclosure, this application translates each mode into
a digital representation for iPads, via storytelling, visual encoding and
multitude of learning modes for each word.

Eileen White, the founder
of Elementary Curriculum
Digitizer Inc. has been a
teacher for the past 30
years. Her goal is to provide
equal and holistic learning
opportunities for early
literacy learners through a
digital application called Click
Me Learning .(https://www.
clickmelearning.ca/).

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Figure 1. Sound Spinner design for the letters A and S. The animal›s ears are the indication
of possible phoneme pronunciation of a letter.

Figure 2.Each letter can have different phonemes. Sound Spinners demonstrate all the
possible phonemes for a letter. Based on the word displayed on the screen, the Sound
Spinners move until reach the correct pronunciation for the letter.

13

Throughout my collaboration with Eileen, I got familiar with various types of displacement that can
happen in the English Language system and are normally understood through memorizing. One of
those instances is when the sound of the letter doesn’t match its pronunciation in a word.
For instance, the letter A has different phonemes when positioned in different words. If we
are emphasizing something, most English-speaking individuals will pronounce it as ai. Or when
speaking colloquially the letter A can be pronounced like u. In this project, we call this phenomenon
“mismatch”. A “mismatch” word is a word that contains one or more letters that have a different
phoneme or silent letters.

Figure 3. Examples of Sound Spinners. Each Sound Spinner has a set of animal ears for the auditory aspect of the
letters. The line and the pen in the middle square represent the visual representation of the letter.

14

I designed a visual element called a “Sound Spinner” for the “mismatch” words (Figure 1, Figure
2). Each sound spinner contains all the possible pronunciations for each letter. To demonstrate
the original grapheme of letters, I placed them in the centre of the triangles with a pen icon as an
indication of the letter's visual representation. On the outer triangle, we can see different visual
representations of the possible sounds, assisted by an auditory pronunciation for that letter.
There are some words whose phonemes are stretched and then connected to the second letter
when pronounced. For instance, the word “was” could be pronounced “waas”. For these words, we
use a “bulldozer” to both move and attach letters together (Figure 4.).

Figure 4. Storyboard for bulldozing words together.
15

Figure 5. Storyboard for Sneaky E. In the word «like»,
Sneaky E scares the letter I, the letter I jumps and its
pronunciation changes to ie.

Another instance of displacement is when we have the letter “e” as the last letter in a word (Figure
5). Building on the personification approach towards the sound spinner (which has different animal
ears as the indication for hearing) or the bulldozer (which is driven by the character Kin, short for
the kinesthetic learner), I decided to add hands for the “Sneaky E”. “Sneaky E” in the words such as
like, hide, bride ... scares the letter I and its pronunciation changes from I to ie.
These are some examples of the work I have been doing with Eileen to help early literacy learners. This
approach is still being tested with students, but the basic idea is to combine different modes of sensory
input into one experience. By not limiting students to a single category or mode of learning, they can
find the answers they need within this application, exercise and deepen their understanding of their
own strengths, and find the motivation to keep learning. As Deleuze & Guattari (1980) put it: "Nature
doesn't work that way: in nature, roots are taproots with a more multiple, lateral, and circular system of
ramification, rather than a dichotomous one." (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980)

Reflection: How did my body engage with this project?

Visual

Auditory

Kinesthetic

Looking for patterns when
interacting with the subject

Sequential

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Discourse and Displacement
(Displacement of Self)

Figure 6. Discourse and Displacement, VR game in Unreal Engine.

As part of my master's research, I worked on several projects that focused on expressing my
emotions as someone who has experienced systematic discrimination in a patriarchal society.
Discourse and Displacement is a VR game project that focuses on narrating my journey, illustrating
how I, along with many women in Iran, managed to transform systematic discrimination into a form
of resistance. In systems, values serve as the linchpin for survival, and any alteration can precipitate
a shift or diminishment of power for those benefiting from the existing order. The process of
molding individuals into useful assets for the system begins early on. In countries like Iran, literacy
and academic education are often undervalued compared to the emphasis on teaching girls to
cover their hair and bodies. It's as if the Islamic Government's survival depends on ingraining the
belief that girls are destined to serve men, with their aspirations limited to becoming better wives
or daughters. The very essence of feeling the wind in their hair or on their bodies is denied to them.
Consequently, overcoming these ingrained ideologies and resisting them as integral parts of my
identity has been an ongoing challenge.
17

This project also explores this facet of my struggle as a woman. To
further illuminate these complexities, I incorporated a paragraph from
Vaclav Havel's 1978 work, "Power of the Powerless":

“The post-totalitarian system touches people at every step, but it
does so with its ideological gloves on. This is why life in the system
is so thoroughly permeated with hypocrisy and lies: government
by bureaucracy is called popular government; the working class is
enslaved in the name of the working class; the complete degradation of
the individual is presented as his or her ultimate liberation; depriving
people of information is called making it available; the use of power
to manipulate is called the public control of power, and the arbitrary
abuse of power is called observing the legal code; the repression of
culture is called its development; the expansion of imperial influence
is presented as support for the oppressed; the lack of free expression
becomes the highest form of freedom; farcical elections become the
highest form of democracy; banning independent thought becomes the
most scientific of world views; military occupation becomes fraternal
assistance. Because the regime is captive to its own lies, it must falsify
everything. It falsifies the past. It falsifies the present, and it falsifies
the future. It pretends not to possess an omnipotent and unprincipled
police apparatus. It pretends to respect human rights. It pretends to
persecute no one. It pretends to fear nothing. It pretends to pretend
nothing.” (Havel, 1978)

Václav Havel was a Czech
statesman, author, poet,
playwright and dissident. He
was the first democratically
elected president of either
country after the fall of
communism. (Wikipedia
Contributors, 2021)

18

Figure 7. I designed 12 walls with different densities, thicknesses, and materials in
Unreal Engine and put one or two sentences of this paragraph on each wall.

As the game unfolds, breaking down each wall becomes progressively
easier for the player (Figures 6 & 7).
Unlike conventional game development, where players gain strength
with each level, making subsequent levels more challenging, my project
takes a different approach. I aimed to illustrate that women in my society
need not grow physically stronger to redefine their identity and reclaim
their subjectivity; they don't have to resort to alternative methods. By
recognizing and dismantling the preconceptions instilled in our minds by
the Islamic Republic from a young age, beginning with breaking down
that initial wall, the subsequent journey becomes smoother. We embark
on an exploration of our being with a redefined sense of self—not just
as cogs in a machine but as individuals with opinions, bodies, and lived
experiences that contribute to shaping society.

19

When discussing the displacement of self, I am referring to the intentional
rejection of individuals by the system, because of differences in values.
An example of this is the experience of women under the rule of the
Islamic Regime. Laws and social norms are constructed and enforced in a
way that consistently places women in a subordinate position compared
to men in their society.
This systemic discrimination is observable in regulations surrounding
hijab, limited work opportunities, and societal contributions. It goes
deeper into restrictions on medical emergencies, divorce, custody rights,
passport acquisition, and even the simple act of attending a football
match in a stadium.
Despite enduring years of oppression and discrimination, women
have not been deterred from actively shaping their identity within this
society. While official rules may dictate otherwise, parents have instilled
independence and critical thinking in their daughters, challenging societal
norms. Consequently, these women are viewed as anomalies, deviating
from societal expectations, or, as I would characterize it, displaced within
their own society. I believe the result of these years of feeling displaced
in a place we call home has resulted in the recent feminist movement in
Iran. Women, life, freedom is a social movement that advocates for all
women, and all that means to be a woman.

Reflection: How did my body engage with this project?

Visual

Auditory

Gestural

Defining different hand gestures
for VR handles.

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Sofreh - ‫سفره‬

(Displacement of self + Displacement of letters)
Although the process of designing and engaging my colleague through
the Discourse and Displacement project was really rewarding, I still
felt that my story was unfinished. Through that project, I was able to
showcase how I, and many women in my community, are in a constant
battle against all the values and norms that were embedded in our
minds by the Islamic Government. We had to carefully analyze and then
destroy the definitions that the Islamic Government had decided for
us as women in that system. Still, I was not able to communicate the
process of reaching that point where I gained the insight and strength to
demolish those values within me. Sofreh was an installation about the
connections between what I think and its physical representation in the
real world, and how this constant translation between what is abstract
and what is tangible has contributed to my idea of self.

Programmed in Python,
(source code:
https://github.com/arpruss/
motionpiano/blob/main/
simplemotionpiano.py)
I defined a surface and
encoded 9 musical notes in
that specific space. Combining
this surface with a camera
motion sensor, users can play
those musical notes when
changing the placement of
objects in that area.

Figure 8. Interacting with the clay while making music using camera motion sensors.

21

I used clay as my medium for physical representation. Whenever someone is playing
or creating with that clay, they are also making music (Figure 8). It depends on the
preference of the user to focus on the object that they are creating or create music
through that clay. No matter the approach, the outcome always would be a music piece
as well as a tangible object. As if the final piece is a conversation between what the user
is thinking and what they are communicating in the physical world.

Tangible

Abstract

Body

Mind

Reality

Fantasy

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Figure 9. Sofreh

Every conversation needs a platform. For me, that platform is a Sofreh. (Figure 9) In general, Sofreh
refers to a piece of cloth in Persian culture that is normally placed on top of carpet to serve food on and
prevent the carpet from getting stained. For me, Sofreh is the platform of communication. People sit
around Sofreh to share a meal and interact with each other. In this exploration I decided to hand paint a
piece of cloth and write the previous paragraph from the book Power of the Powerless by Vaclav Havel
(1978) on it.
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Figure 10. The process of designing Sofreh

I start with the word Nothing and then write each word from the last letter
to the first. Trying to maintain an even distance, I wrote this paragraph in
a spiral composition. After finishing positioning the letters in a displaced
manner, I started to paint Persian motifs in the art of Ghalamkari in
between spaces. Each sentence describes how a totalitarian system like
the Islamic Regime operates and I wanted to add the elements of culture,
history, and the work of hand to it. To a point that it cannot be read or
understood by anyone else but me. I crafted an intentional displaced
system for these letters that is only readable and functional for me, and
it can be used as an actual Sofreh for others to have a conversation
around it.

Ghalamkari, is a method of
traditional textile print in Iran.

In this project, not only was I able to express another layer of my
experience by adding another mode of sensory input to the interactive
installation, but I also crafted a piece that stems from my background
and for me to read. The tailored displacement vivid in the Sofreh works
as a platform to engage more audience to experience what it is like to
actively put shape to what is abstract and cannot be touched.

Reflection: How did my body engage with this project?

Visual

Auditory

Tacit

24

Displacement of Home

Afghan woman weaving Kilim Rug in Isfahan, Iran. (DW, 2023)

Displacement of home is the term that I use in my research when referring to forcibly displaced
individuals. Forced displacement (also forced migration or forced relocation) is an involuntary or
coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region (UNHC, 2014).
According to the UN Refugee Centre, global forced displacement reached 110 million in mid-2023.
At the end of 2022, of the 108.4 million forcibly displaced people, an estimated 43.3 million (40
percent) are children (UNHCR, 2023).
Last year as I presented in my interim thesis, this number was 103 million, and 36 million of them
were children. The Islamic Republic of Iran and Türkiye each hosted 3.4 million refugees, the largest
populations worldwide (UNHCR, 2023). For someone who has been living with forcibly displaced
individuals in one city, this number is an indication of a lack of housing, food, or permission to open
up a bank account for the imperceptible future. Afghan refugees in Iran are not allowed to have
an ID card, have a job and the fear of getting deported prevents them from demanding their basic
needs or even sharing their stories.
25

Qaiser Khan Afridi, a spokesperson for UNHCR Pakistan says: “UNHCR
is committed to ensuring that women are able to make a safe and
sustainable living that meets their basic needs and contributes to
their dignity” (Qayyum, 2021). He says that the agency has provided
certified vocational training to thousands of refugee women over the
past four decades, adding that between 2016 and 2020, UNHCR
Pakistan trained over 4,000 female refugees in carpet weaving, tailoring,
kilim making, jewellery making, embroidery and other skills. “Through
these projects, these women not only achieve self-reliance in Pakistan
but they also improve their future economic prospects upon return to
Afghanistan,” Afridi says (Qayyum, 2021). One can presume that craftmaking and working with the hands have been the response to both
the political situation and mental state of forcibly displaced individuals.
In many societies, such as my own, engaging with a craft product is
part of everyday life. Carpets and Kilim rugs are more valued when
they have been walked on for a longer time. Accordingly, when shifting
our focus from their situation to the result and the product of their
lived experience, their suffering wouldn’t seem distant and exhibitory.
As we are touching, observing and interacting with the result of their
experiential knowledge, our understanding of their situation wouldn’t
be contained and limited to a story. Like any Iranian household that has
at least one hand-woven carpet, their stories will become part of our
everyday life.

26

Weaving in VR
(Displacement of Home)

Figure 11. Testing hand gestures in VR

After reading about Afghan women and their weaving practice in
refugee camps, I wanted to investigate whether I could recreate the
experience of weaving a carpet in a digital environment. My notion was
that by adding the act of making into our digital communication, we can
experience another aspect of storytelling.
I decided to design an environment in Unreal Engine. I wanted to
experience the limitations and opportunities that come with immersive
environments. For this project, I used the handles for VR headsets as
hands. I defined different gestures, such as grabbing, for the handles.
I also created rope-like objects in that environment and tried to see
whether I could make a knot using those hands.
27

I found this task quite challenging. First, defining the behavior of yarn or a rope is delicate and
meticulous work. Each part of a yarn has the flexibility to change directions while the other
parts can maintain their positions. Moreover, the concept of knotting depends not only on the
material, which could be yarn or a rope but also on the space between the modified yarn. Defining
nothingness (which is not nothing, it contains air and dust) in between a knot is something that can
be experienced in real life but is difficult to represent in an environment that depends on variables
and inputs. The characteristics of a yarn, and how my notion of nothingness would affect them, are
beyond what I could envision (Figure 12). At this point, I hoped that instead of two hands, I could
have two strings of yarn that could transfer the data from my hand into the VR environment.

Figure 12. Trying to manage the space between two strings of yarn in Unreal Engine

Although I was not able to achieve what I intended to make in a VR environment, it also highlighted
the importance of intrinsic qualities of a material and material knowledge (Nimkulrat, 2009) when
translating experiential knowledge into digital platforms.

Reflection: How did my body engage with this project?

Visual

Gestural

28

Systems

A woman is considered an “outcast” in Iran if she doesn’t abide by the rules constructed by the
Islamic Regime. A neurodivergent English-speaking student is only considered Dyslexic if they are
not able to read or write within the structures of the English language system. An Afghan woman,
regardless of her strength, has to learn carpet weaving as a means to earn a living, because she is
forcibly displaced from her home country. Therefore, it is systems that make people displaced.
We can define a system as an interconnected set of elements that is coherently organized in a way
that achieves something. Therefore it consists of three kinds of things: elements, interconnections,
and a function or purpose (Meadows, 2008) .
The English language system consists of the alphabet, the interconnection between phonemes,
phonemic orthography, grammar and … as a means for communication. All these elements are
constructed in a way to make that communication easier. Complex systems such as social and
political systems consist of people and the relationship established based on culture, rules and
regulations toward the stability and sustainability of those social and political systems. For instance,
according to Islamic rules and regulations, Hijab is a concept in which a Muslim woman has to
cover her body (except for her face and palms of her hands) to protect herself from harm (generally
addressing any interaction with men). It is also considered a sin for a Muslim woman to show her
hair, or any parts of her body (though covered) to any man that is not legally related to her. The
Islamic Government in Iran has established rules and regulations to further enforce this concept on
Iranian women regardless of their values or preferences.
In Thinking in Systems: A Primer, Donella H. Meadows thoroughly explains and investigates every
aspect of systems; their capabilities, means of survival and what leads them to their destruction.
As she stated in this book, “a system’s function or purpose is not necessarily spoken, written, or
expressed explicitly, except through the operation of the system. The best way to deduce the
system’s purpose is to watch for a while to see how the system behaves” (Meadows, 2008). When
analyzing complex and fluid concepts such as displacement, it is necessary to remember that
actions or the method of operation of a system can be in opposition to what they claim to be their
purpose. The educational system has trained and facilitated teachers and educators to improve
students’ literacy skills. Yet, when a student is dyslexic, the whole system, methods and purpose
of the educational system would be obsolete. Another example could be found in what the Islamic
Government in Iran claims in regard to the safety of citizens. The rules and regulations regarding
hijab have roots in the Islamic notion that to prevent men from committing a sin or attacking women
based on their primal urges; it is safer for women to hide their bodies in clothes and scarves. When
women refuse to wear hijab and claim these rules don't protect them from harm, the government
places morality police to arrest, hit and kill those women. In the matter of forcibly displaced Afghan
women, we can observe that the Taliban and the host countries (such as Iran, Turkey or Pakistan)
have legal regulations to treat these individuals as outsiders. All of these behaviors are the result of
systems needing to ensure their own perpetuation (Meadows, 2008).
30

We can define displaced individuals as elements, users, and individuals who can not or resist to
function towards the fulfillment of a system’s purpose.
Meadows explains “System purposes need not be human purposes and are not necessarily those
intended by any single actor within the system. In fact, one of the most frustrating aspects of systems
is that the purpose of subunits may add up to an overall behavior that no one wants — Systems can
be nested within systems. Therefore, there can be purposes within purposes” (Meadows, 2008).
Simply put, even the elements, users or individuals working in that system also have a system
to ensure their continued existence. When looking at how identities are shaped, I believe it is
safe to consider identities as a system, working toward the survival of individuals. Looking at the
Women, Life, Freedom movement in Iran, we can track the origin of the movement in the need
to live as a woman. We can track the roots in how women in this society defined their identity,
and that identity is in opposition to how the government wants women to behave. When the
interconnection between women and the authoritarian system has altered, the whole being of that
system is in danger. And as we can observe on many occasions, this alteration can lead to violence
and brutal actions from the governments.
"To attribute the book to a subject is to overlook this working of matters, and the exteriority of their
relations." (Deleuze & Guattari, 1980)
Like what is happening in Iran regarding women’s rights rules and regulations, not all actions
resulting from this altercation lead to violence. I believe it is important to state that a system is
more than the sum of its parts. It may exhibit adaptive, dynamic, goal-seeking, self-preserving,
and sometimes evolutionary behavior (Meadows, 2008). Looking at UK Government accessibility
guidelines (UK Government, n.d.) or UX accessibility guidelines (Google, 2023) toward font design
for neuro-divergent individuals, we can observe systems that have the capacity and means to shift
their goals and focus on providing each element, user or person with the suitable tools and method
of function. In design, we often regard systems design as the process of defining and developing
systems to satisfy specified requirements of the user (Ulrich & Eppinger, 2000). Therefore, the
longevity of designed systems relies on their capacity for inclusivity and acceptance. I believe when
the elements or users of a system are dynamic, that system also becomes a live phenomenon. Being
alive is being part of nature, and nature doesn't work that way. "[in] nature, roots are taproots with a
more multiple, lateral, and circular system of ramification, rather than a dichotomous one." (Deleuze
& Guattari, 1980) As we grow as humans, and expand our understanding of our existence, the
designed systems such as government, social or language systems grow with us. The multitude of
senses, modes and placements are actively shaping and redefining previous systems, despite their
failed attempt to hold their initial values.

31

Modes of Inquiry

Figure 13. Annotating in a format of a kilim rug.

Figure 14. Extracting keywords from
annotations
33

Figure 15. Writing in the format of Kilim
Rugs' motif

As I continued my experimental practices for this research, I found it hard to write, compose and
communicate what I was reading and writing about. As Donald Schön explains in his book The
Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action: “We are bound to an epistemology of
practice which leaves us at a loss to explain, or even to describe, the competences to which we
now give overriding importance” (Schön, 1994). This notion resonates with me in a way that my
investigation is not only about reading and making but also about how I shape the reflection of
those makings and readings. The writing aspects of those reflections don't necessarily take shape in
the format of language. Like a Kilim Rug, it is a repetitive pattern of flowers that contains different
aspects of this research. I was able to weave different parts of my research together, and to read
and write in a more sympathetic way. In the middle (Figure 14), there is a place for keywords that
is the combination of patterns together. I had to draw and design patterns before sitting down and
writing my annotations (Figure 13). As Schön (1994) explains: “Reflection-in-action, in these several
modes, is central to the art through which practitioners sometimes cope with the trou­blesome “
divergent” situations of practice. When the phenomenon at hand eludes the ordinary catego­ries
of knowledge-in-practice, presenting itself as unique or unstable, the practitioner may surface and
criticize his initial un­derstanding of the phenomenon, construct a new description of it, and test
the new description by an on-the-spot experi­ment. Sometimes he arrives at a new theory of the
phenomenon by articulating a feeling he has about it.” (Schön, 1994) In other words, my writing is
more about the stories, history and shapes of a Kilim Rug, rather than words to explain what those
stories are. For me, this form of writing enables more opportunities to explore how I can situate
myself in my practice, as well as being an intuitive practice for writing.

Much like my efforts in writing, my design explorations also became intuitive and responsive to
modes of displacement. In the book Non-representational Methodology: Re-envisioning Research,
Lorimer defines non-representational methodology as: “an umbrella term for diverse work that
seeks to better cope with our self-evidently more-than-human, more-than-textual, multisensual
worlds.” (Vannini, 2015) This definition explains my approach towards understanding experiential
knowledge and its representation in craft and digital communication. Lorimer then further explains:
“Theoretically, non-representational theory stands as a synthesizing effort to amalgamate diverse
but interrelated theoretical perspectives, such as actor-network theory, biological philosophy,
neomaterialism, process philosophy, speculative realism, social ecology, performance theory,
poststructuralist feminism, critical theory, postphenomenology, and pragmatism” (Vannini, 2015).
In other words, non-representational methodology does not look at a phenomenon as it is
represented, but investigates it in the combination of relations that this phenomenon has with
other matters. In the context of my research, I have tried to create my series of design activities as a
response to the reflections of the previous project. As Schön (1994) emphasizes: “In a good process
of design, this conversation with the situa­tion is reflective. In answer to the situation’s back-talk,
the de­signer reflects-in-action on the construction of the problem, the strategies of action, or the
model of the phenomena, which have been implicit in his moves.” (Schön, 1994)
34

Stories of Making
Part 2

Weaving Together
To further investigate the role of the hand in the crafting of systems, I
designed a weaving participatory workshop as part of my Direct Studies
course with Material Matters at Emily Carr University. For this activity, I
asked Hélène Day Fraser, Keith Doyl (our instructors) and my fellow
designer colleagues to tell their stories of making while weaving a piece
of their choice. I provided them with two types of looms at random. One
standard (Figure 16) and the other one a smaller and flat loom (Figure 17).

Figure 16. I demonstrated how to weave on a
bigger loom.

Figure 17. Example of a small and flat loom.

36

Figure 18. Participants weaving while telling their stories of "making"

I provided them with various yarns (both in texture and color) and taught them how to weave using
those looms. The goal of this workshop was to ask a group of designers to tell stories and reflect on their
previous experiences about making when working with their hands.
As someone whose native language isn’t English, my teaching methods were more demonstration than
verbal communication of instructions. Shortly, participants got familiar with the logic of weaving and
started to make tapestry. Makers with small and flat looms soon realized that they were not able to
weave as demonstrated. They started to design other methods and build their own tools to be able
to weave using small looms. Some participants decided to use another method of weaving, using side
frames to give them more stability to weave and navigate through their warp strings (Figure 21). Some
participants crafted a needle-like tool out of a coffee mixer spoon (Figure 19) and paper (Figure 20) to
navigate the weft string between warp strings.

Figure 19. Using Coffee mizer spoon
37

Figure 20. Using paper cardboard

Figure 21. Using the side frames

The focus of this session was to hear the stories of how much participants
involve the work of the hand in their identity-building process. One
participant shared that although they define themselves as a “maker” they
hate learning new things. They further explained that they cannot learn
how to weave by watching or reading, they have to have someone guiding
their hands so they can understand the material as well as the method
of using their hands as part of their practice. Another person shared that
crafting has some meditative aspects for them. They feel in control and
they can stop thinking while working with their hands and that makes
them want to work more on their artifact. They also stated that the act
of weaving reminds them of cooking, which is an activity they practice
daily. Some participants shared their previous experience of bamboo
weaving and stated that although they had never woven something,
their hands knew how to interact with the loom and navigate the yarns.
Aside from all the stories and reflections that I was able to collect during
this workshop, I was also able to collect embodied data from each
individual. Each loom contains data about the individuals’ pressure of
the hand, the speed at which they work with their hands, what type
of material they prefer or how they can navigate their own way while
working within a system that is hard to function within. Each loom
works as a folder that contains stories and methods of thinking as well
as preferences and their materialistic representation.

Figure 22. Woven pieces by makers

38

Figure 23. Woven piece by makers - out of their looms

When removing these handicrafts from their original system that was tailored for each individual, we
might displace information that was essential as part of the whole system.
To further demonstrate why experiential knowledge should be communicated within its scope of
action (in this case looms with tailored tools) I cut all the handicrafts and tried to show them without
their crafted system. In this part, not only I was faced with the dilemma of not being able to maintain
the original form of the yarns therefore I lost several types of data that were embedded in the
previously crafted system, but I also had to alter the piece to show all its aspects on a piece of paper.
Although the displacement of data was not intentional and I wanted to preserve the pieces outside of
those frames, it also made those handicrafts foreign and broken.

39

Names I Should Remember,
Stories I Shouldn't Forget

Figure 24. My Saved posts on my personal Instagram account

Figure 25. Street art in Tehran.

Over the past year, I have been collecting and documenting stories from
the Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran. Social media (Instagram and
X) has been my main point of collecting these stories.
I can see the method of fighting an oppressive system has shifted from
protesting on the streets to living on the streets. By living I am not referring
to the act of occupying a specific space, but by an act of defiance against
the Islamic Government. When retaliating against an oppressive system, the
rulers will try to destroy all matters that will give individuals hope or energy
to continue. The oppressive system will do its best to change the goal of
participants in that system from living to surviving. Living and defining how
we should live as individuals becomes an act of fighting. In the early days of
this movement, when everyone was in mourning and sorrow for all the lives
that had been lost, it was frowned upon for Iranian communities to share
their daily routines on Instagram.

40

Digital platform were only used as a platform to share crucial information
regarding the movement or space to analyze the current situation. After
months of analyzing how patriarchal government affects everyone (male,
female and kids) we began to define the concept of life. Women sharing
their uncovered heads, men wearing shorts and children dancing on the
streets. Businesses met with penalties and closure just because they
provided service to women without hijab, but again refused to ask women
to wear hijab when entering their shops. All of these actions resulted in the
displacement of norms in the initial values of the system. One year after
Mahsa’s death, as Sepideh Rashnou shared on her Instagram, the Woman,
Life, Freedom movement is not just about Tehran and is growing toward
less centralized places in Iran.

Sepideh Rashnu (29) is
an Iranian writer, who is
imprisoned for protesting
against state-imposed hijab
rules. In July 2022, she had
an altercation and assaulted
on a public bus with another
woman over the hijab rules,
and the video went viral on
social media. She was released
from Evin Prison on August
2022 ,30.

Figure 25. Picture of Sepideh about her experience visiting her hometown after
getting arrested because she refused to wear a hijab. 2024/1/11

41

Note: on February 16th
2024, Sepideh was once
again arrested on the charge
of not wearing Hijab. She is
sentenced to serve the next 4
years in prison.

Crafted Identities

For me, what I refer to as Identity is the multitude of several identities
within ourselves. Much like a Kilim rug that consists of repetitive patterns,
each pattern shapes one aspect of our being. And again, like a Kilim rug, we
have woven and organized those patterns on our loom.
Meadows describes self-recognized systems as resilient systems that can
explore and bounce back if facing a disruption. She states that “the most
marvelous characteristic of some complex systems is their ability to learn,
diversify, complexify, evolve. —This capacity of a system to make its own
structure more complex is called self-organization” (Meadows, 2008) .
Iranian women defining femininity under a totalitarian system is the subproduct of having a self-organized identity system. Afghan women weaving
carpets as a method to gain livelihood and independence is the result of
constructing a self-organized system. Even children with learning differences
designing their own method of communicating with the English language
system is the result of having a self-organized system.

Figure 26. War Rug with Map of Afghanistan,
1998, knotted wool, Baghlan (Afghanistan);
acquired in Peshawar (Pakistan). (Strasnick,
2014)
43

It is important to note that not all women in Iran believe they have been
objectified and considered the lesser being by the Islamic Government
rules. Some have aided the authorities in further arresting civilians and
establishing their dominance. Not all English-speaking individuals struggle
with the current literacy learning methods that are mostly based on visual
sensory and cognition. Self-organized identities are the result of dealing with
overbearing systems that refuse to acknowledge those individuals as part
of their whole. Or as previously stated, displaced individuals. As Meadows
further explains “Fortunately, self-organization is such a basic property of
living systems that even the most overbearing power structures can never
fully kill it, although in the name of law and order, self-organization can be
suppressed for long, barren, cruel, boring periods.” (Meadows, 2008)

Based on my research, making (specifically crafting) has significantly
contributed to the creation of self-organized identity systems. For instance,
when I read about the Afghan women’s condition in refugee camps and
how they use carpet weaving as a method to gain livelihood (Qayyum,
2021), or how Afghan women within Afghanistan started learning how to
weave due to Taliban rule, banning women from attending universities or
schools (DW, 2022), the traces of work of the hand were evident for me.
Therefore, as part of my practice, I started to learn how to extract natural
colors and weave.

Figure 27. Natural Dye Workshop by
Caitlin Ffrench

Figure 28. Weaving as part of my daily
routine

44

When weaving became part of my daily practice throughout my research (Figure 28), I began
to understand Qayyum’s notion in her article about why Afghan women choose to weave in
refugee camps in Pakistan. At one point she mentions “It is through this work that thousands of
women have found an outlet to try and manage the PTSD they suffer as a result of prolonged
war and violence in Afghanistan.” (Qayyum, 2021).
“The handcrafted object reflects not only an informal economy of energy (as opposed to one of
process efficiency) but also pleasure. Its production involves some play, some waste, and above
all a kind of communion.” (Mccullough, 1998) In other words, throughout years of suffering and
oppression that specifically targeted Afghan women, they have developed their own self-organized
system of coping with their situation as well as using it as a method to function within that oppressive
system. They sought sanctuary in the act of weaving, and those carpets became their platform of
communication. Afghan War Rugs are one of the many examples of storytelling through weaving
(Figure 26).
Another example of creating the method of function can be found in literacy learning. In one of the
first major studies of children’s beginning attempts at learning to spell, linguist Charles Read (1975)
examined the writing of thirty preschoolers who were able to identify and name the letters of the
alphabet and to relate the letter names to the sounds of words. The students had “invented” spellings
for words by arranging letters (Lutz, 1986). They use their pre-existing knowledge about sounds and
decode the existing text in their surroundings to develop their own process of literacy learning. Read
(1975) also concludes that “learning to spell is not a matter of memorizing words, but a developmental
process that culminates in a much greater understanding of English spelling than simple relationships
between speech sounds and their graphic representations.” (Read, 1975) The role of the hand in literacy
learning may not be as evident as weaving, but building a tailored relationship with language needs an
engagement that is not limited to the brain but the whole body. The work of the hand can be traced in
the act of writing, typing, or interacting with objects as a way to remember to write.

45

Even politically imprisoned women in Iran spend their days crafting. Dast
Saze Evin is one of those instagram pages where the family of imprisoned
women try to sell their handicrafts as a way of both making a living and
sharing their stories from within the Evin prison. Some of the handicrafts
have been produced in shops inside the prison, and some of them are made
out of leftover wood, date seed or bread dough.
These self-organized identities are the result of a system that displaces
its entities. In fact, through work of the hand and embodied engagement
with their material surroundings, the individuals who have been considered
displaced, actually found themselves and positionality. Their hands are
primarily tools to create these self-organized identities.“The hand is not the
mind’s docile slave. It searches and experiments for its master’s benefits;
it has all sorts of adventures; it tries its chance.” (Arendt, 1958) To put it in
another way, their investigations, creations and experiences through their
hands, have resulted in the replacement of their identities.
I want to categorize their self-organized system as Crafted Identities.
Crafted identities are self-organized systems that are highly resilient
against the main system that they have to function within. As Meadows
explains “Resilience is the ability to bounce or spring back into normal
shape, position, etc., after being pressed or stretched. Elasticity. The ability
to recover strength, spirits, good humor, or any other aspect quickly.”
(Meadows, 2008) Their craftsmanship is not limited to the artefacts
and physical representation of their action, but the way that they have
woven their identities could be considered crafting. The healing of the
identity system can happen through craft. Therefore crafted identities
are the systems of behaviors that have been repaired through craftmaking. This craft-making doesn’t necessarily lead to a physical object,
it can be referred to as the way individuals build a system of survival as
a means to function within the previous system.

As stated on the
“dastsaazevin” Instagram
page: “These handicrafts
are not only a souvenir from
prison, but also a reason to
survive. Staying alive is the
most important thing that an
imprisoned person fights for.
To be honest, you have to
fight even more for hope and
continue inside the walls of
prison than outside it ”
(Dastsaazevin Instagram,
2023)

Crafted identities are systems that have high resilience as a means
of survival. The constant shifts and feedback that come with being
displaced out of those systems, call for methods of functions that have
high resilience against perturbation.

46

For instance, singing in Iran which is an illegal practice for women. However, Naghshkhani (Figure
29) is an integral part of carpet weaving in which women sing the patterns of carpet within a song
format. They also teach their daughters how to sing those songs and practice singing. The result of
this practice can be observed in the young generation of women in Iran who practice professional
singing in public spaces and push the boundaries of a patriarchal system.
Individuals with crafted identities also displace the rules, methods and regulations of the overbearing
system. They don’t need to fight, their continued existence can greatly impact society and as a
result, de-legitimize the oppressive system.

Figure 29. In Naghshkhani, women
carpet weavers gather as a group and
normally one person sings the map of
the carpets and others will weave the
carpets based on that song.(Velashjerdi,
2021)
47

Experiential
Knowledge

At this point, I find it essential to have a distinct differentiation between “tacit knowing” and
“experiential knowledge”. As Polanyi investigates in his book The Tacit Dimension (1966) the
relation between the “knowing of what” and “knowing of how” that comes from the active shaping
of experience in pursuit of knowledge is what creates our tacit knowledge (Polanyi, 1966). As
Polanyi states: “I shall always speak of "knowing," therefore, to cover both practical and theoretical
knowledge. We can, accordingly, interpret the use of tools, of probes, and of pointers as further
instances of the art of knowing, and may add to our list also the denotative use of language, as a
kind of verbal pointing.” In another word, tacit knowing is a mode of “knowing” that helps us interact
and function in our spatial environment based on the relationship that we have about the theory
and functional aspect of our surroundings. Writing about experiential knowledge, on the other
hand, is challenging. As Polanyi states, the roots of experiential knowledge lie in the notion that
“we can know more than we can tell.” (Polanyi, 1966). In other words, it relies on another aspect
of recognition and acknowledgement that occurs only when our bodies, especially our hands, are
involved in constant interaction. In Abstracting Craft: The Practiced Digital Hand, McCullough
explains that the reason experiential knowledge is hard to describe by language lies within the
fact that its root is in action, not verbal representation. He explains “If manual ability has a way of
defying explanation, that is because it is based not in language but in action.” (Mccullough, 1998)

Nithikul Nimkulrat's definition of Craft Knowledge is noteworthy in the formation of my interpretation
of experiential knowledge. In the article “Translational craft: Handmade and gestural knowledge in
analogue–digital material practice” she describes craft knowledge as “the knowledge of touch and
feel that it is gained through the senses from repeated experiences of working with a specific material
over time.” (Nimkulrat, 2020). As she describes, craft knowledge is only obtained if the person is in
constant contact with the material and analyzes that interaction using all of their senses. However,
in the context of experiential knowledge, switching the constant interaction with materials with
constant reflections on our experiences and designing new methods of being as humans in our
spatial space using all our senses can result in the development of our understanding of experiential
knowledge. As Donald Schön explains: “When we go about the spontaneous, intuitive performance
of the actions of everyday life, we show ourselves to be knowledgeable in a special way. Often we
cannot say what it is that we know. When we try to describe it we find ourselves at a loss, or we
produce descriptions that are obviously inappropriate. Our knowing is ordinarily tacit, implicit in our
patterns of ac­tion and in our feel for the stuff with which we are dealing. It seems right to say that
our knowing is in our action.” (Schön, 1994). The pattern of action that Schön notes, is the result
of our reflection based on our tacit knowledge. That is what shapes our experiential knowledge.
Or as McCullough states, “ Much life of the hands is a form of knowledge: not linguistic or symbolic
knowledge such as you might use to read this book or write a computer program– The knowledge
is not only physical, but also experiential.” (Mccullough, 1998).

49

Therefore, our experiential knowledge of our spatial environment contributes
to the creation of our crafted identities.
The materiality of objects and how we interact with them contribute to our
perception of reality, and that reality has affected us in the process of shaping
our identity. I believe that is why crafted identities use their experiential
knowledge as a method of communication. The embodied experience of
being displaced is something that can be felt but not easily articulated. That
is why the manifestation of experiential knowledge is often found in craft
and art.

50

Final Story

Kian

52

This project serves as a multi-sensory, multi-story and even multireflectory piece in my research process. In this project, I tried to situate
myself as an Afghan woman who is weaving to tell a story, a dyslexic
student who has a hard time communicating through written language,
and an Iranian girl who is constantly thinking of home.

I wanted to investigate how to communicate these experiences
through a piece in a way that the experiential data can be collected
from a crafted object. Therefore I learned how to weave a cloth using
TC2 Jacquard Loom. Jacquard Loom being the inspiration behind
modern computers, served as a medium which constantly reminded
me of the women's contributions in the digital area and how their
contributions were overshadowed solely because of their identity.
“Hardware . software, wetware, before their beginnings and beyond their
ends. Women have been the simulators, assemblers, and programmers
of the digital machines” (Plant, 1998). Textile fabrication was the
software lining for all technology as well as the first canvas for writing
(Plant, 1998). My experimental approach toward my practice combined
with the importance of weaving and textile fabrication in the history
of feminism, and the fact that TC2 Jacquard Loom is a loom that works
with Photoshop and weaves each pixel made it evident for me to engage
with this material (strings) and platform (TC2 Jacquard Loom) as the next
step in my research.
For this piece, I decided to portray the story of Kian Pirfalak and
Mahmonir Molaie on the top half, and an illustration from Shahname
Tahmasbi on the second half.

53

Pirfalak’s death sparked a
nationwide outrage against
the government and its use of
extreme lethal force against
protestors. He is considered
the youngest known victim
(either 9 or 10 years old) of
suppressing the Mahsa Amini
protests.

Kian was a 10 year old boy who was killed at the attack on Izeh market, in a shooting by the Islamic
government security forces while he sat in his parents' vehicle on 15 November 2022. (for timeline,
refer to the Positionality) His mother, Mahmonir Molaie, refusing to keep his body at the morgue,
took Kian home and asked neighbours for ice to keep his body cold until the funeral day. This was
due to the fear of security forces stealing the child's body, as that has happened in many cases.

Figure 30. Mahmonir Interview with IranWire, 2023

Mahmonir Molaie has been the pivotal advocate for what happened to Kian that day. In this piece,
I took a paragraph from her interview with IranWire (Iranwire & Ghadarkhan, 2023) and wove it
using Jacquard loom. In this section of the interview, Mahmonir states:

54

‫اصــا باورتــون نمیشــه‪ ،‬خیلــی از اینکــه مــردم منــو بشناســن بــدم میــاد‪ .‬مــن بــرا خــودم‬
‫راحــت داشــتم زندگــی مــی کــردم‪ ،‬بــازار مــی رفتــم‪ ،‬کارامــو مــی کــردم‪ .‬هرجایی دوســت‬
‫داشــتم اصــا خودمــو رهــا مــی کــردم‪ .‬آزاد بــودم اصــا‪ .‬االن نــه‪ .‬تــوی خونــه ی خودمــم‬
‫احســاس آرامــش و راحتــی نــدارم‪ .‬البتــه خونــه ی خــودم کــه نیســت‪ ،‬خونــه ی مردمــه‬
‫ولــی بــه هــر حــال تــوی جمــع خودمــون هــم هیــچ احســاس خوبــی نــدارم‪ .‬کاش گمنــام‬
‫تریــن آدم دنیــا بــودم‪ .‬خیلــی ســخته دیــده شــدن‪.‬‬
‫اونم … به خاطر از دست دادن… کیان‪.‬‬
‫‪You may not believe it, but I hate for people to know me. I was‬‬
‫‪living peacefully on my own, going to the Bazar, doing my work.‬‬
‫‪I was peaceful wherever I was. I was free. Now I am not. I don’t‬‬
‫‪feel comfortable in my own home. Actually, it’s not my home, it’s‬‬
‫‪someone else’s but I don’t feel good overall. I wish I was the most‬‬
‫‪unknown person in this world. It’s so hard to be seen.‬‬
‫‪Especially because … we lost… Kian‬‬

‫‪55‬‬

In this interview, Mahmonir also tells how Kian loved reading the stories of Shahname, and how she
didn’t get to tell him the story of Zahhak. In Iranian culture, Shahname or “The Book of Kings” serves
as a pivotal poetry book that resurrected the Persian Language in 1010 CE written by Ferdausi.
The second half of this piece, is an illustration from Shahname Tahmasbi (Figure 31). The Shahnama
of Shah Tahmasp (r. 76–1524), also known as the Shahnama-yi Shahi, is arguably the most
luxuriously illustrated copy of Firdausi’s epic ever produced in the history of Persian painting. The
artistic importance of this manuscript cannot be overestimated. It is considered one of the highest
achievements in the arts of the book for its superb calligraphy, painting, and illumination. (Leoni,
2008) It is the high point of Persian miniature painting and contains 258 illustrated paintings.

Figure 31. Kava Tears Up Zahhak's Letter, folio 31v from the Shah Tahmasp
Shahnama (between 1535-1522, Tabriz), attributed to Qadimi, Tehran
Museum of Contemporary Art, Reproduced in Shahnamayi Shah Tahmasp,
Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, 303/34 ,2021. Photographed by
Mohsen Mohamadkhani for Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art.

56

This piece (Figure 31), which is said to be illustrated by Ghadimi under the supervision of Sultan
Muhammad, is the portrait of the scene in which Kaveh tears the agreement sent by King Zahhak.
In Shahnameh, Zahhak is the notorious king who has two snakes on his shoulder and in order to
prevent those snakes from attacking him, he feeds the brains of the young men to these snakes.
Kaveh, who has lost 17 of his sons to these snakes is going to retaliate against Zahhak, is the
symbol of a parent who will sacrifice everything to avenge his children’s death in Iranian folk culture.
Zahhak, on the other hand, is the symbol of a king that kills his own people in order to prevent the
snakes on his shoulder from eating his own brain.

Figure 32. Weaving on TC2

Figure 33. Weaving on TC2

Figure 34. TC2 application
connected to Jacquard Loom.

In this piece, I wanted to portray the generational trauma of losing a child that is fueling the flames
of revenge within the parents. From past to present, folk tales to reality, there is a hidden mourning
that has been embedded in the structure of my community that has not been fully represented
or investigated. Therefore, I decided to weave both a visual illustration of this trauma as well as a
verbal representation. So that whoever cannot read the pain in between Mahmonir’s lines, can look
at the scene and say “Ah, I get it”.
“The “linguistic turn” that philosophy took in the past century is only the most recent manifestation
of this horror materiae. Since this turn, the language in which human begins speak about reality is
thought to determine what may count as reality. But this turns things into little more than projection
screens for interpretations, reduces them to the words with which we describe them, and fails to
give them their due, their proper weight.”(Peter-Paul Verbeek, 2005).
Funny enough, while I was weaving this piece in the TARP LAB, two Iranian undergraduate students
walked in to talk to Jen Heibert. They looked at my half finished piece and said “Kian?”
57

Pixels are deformed when in direct contact with the user. “The way of hand is
personal, contextual, indescribable. Little can surpass the hands in showing
that we know more than we can say.” (Mccullough, 1998). While weaving
this piece, I was in constant awareness of my body movement as well as
being lost and unfocused about my surroundings. The first section that I
wove was the circles on the right side of the piece. They are the indication
of my strength and pressure that has deformed the perfect initial circle on
the bottom right. By weaving these circles, I was able to determine how
much deformation my designed piece needed in Photoshop. Therefore I
had to re-adjust my initial design by 30 percent to achieve perfect squares
of pixel on my final piece (Figure 35).

Figure 35. Designed files on Photoshop. Before and after deformation
58

Although I was aware that my body was constantly moving to weave 700
lines of pixelated data, I also noticed that the pain and pressure that I used to
feel that morning was slowly disappearing. In those moments I understood
why Afghan women seek sanctuary in the act of weaving. I could understand
McCullough’s notion on how “Hands are the best source of tacit personal
knowledge because of all extensions of the body, they are the most subtle,
the most sensitive, the most probing, the most differentiated, and the most
closely connected to the mind.” (Mccullough, 1998).
My only regret is that I am not (yet) able to share my heartbeat, my body
temperature, and my movement … through this piece with Mahmonir. I wish
there was a way for me to tell her that my body physically reacts whenever
I think of Kian. I wish she could see my anger and feel the pressure I put
on the loom when weaving the face of Zahhak. This piece may look like an
upside Instagram post (with the caption on top and picture down below)
but it is my way of showing Mahmonir that although I never met Kian, I am
mourning his death every day.

Reflection: How did I engage with this project?

Visual

Auditory

Sequential
Actions

59

Tacit

A feeling that
hurts your
body physically
when hearing a
certain name

Reflective

Conclusion and
Future Work

Displacement can happen in many modes. This research investigates three
modes of displacement through the lens of social and political systems and
how their attempt to uphold their values have been affecting the people
functioning within those systems. The Woman, Life, Freedom movement is
the result of years of oppression and emotional displacement for women in
Iran. Displacement of letters occurs when individuals are unable to function
within the rules and boundaries of language systems, and displacement of
home results from unlivable and dangerous situations in individuals' home
countries.

Kilim Rug

In some places, the systematic displacement can be observed in crafts and
their value among communities. In the Middle East, the culture of weaving
has been a gateway for autonomy and subjectivity for many women.
Through weaving, women have been able to gain a living (even in refugee
camps), practice singing (although punishable under Islamic rules), and tell
their stories (who they are, what is happening to them, and how their carpet,
Kilim rug, Gabeh came to be).
Many women in Afghanistan and Iran have learned how to use their
experiential knowledge as a method of coping and translate it into carpet
weaving. The system of weaving a carpet or a cloth is a multi-sensory,
multi-layered, and multi-material interaction (Devendorf et al., 2022). The
result of this complex interaction has contributed to the creation of Crafted
Identities. For a person who has crafted their own identity under the
circumstances of displacement, communicating their stories and state of
being cannot be contained in a single mode of communication. A complex
resilient identity system calls for a complex and multi-layered, multi-sensory,
and multi-material mode of interaction. To understand all the layers of a
displaced person's story, it is important to experience and interact with all
the sensory inputs communicated through that person.

Gabeh Rug

Persian Carpet

61

The inherent characteristics of textiles (the ability to hold shape, smell, and remember pressure)
(Devendorf et al., 2022) have contributed to the development of different aspects of the digital
environment. From the Jacquard loom and the invention of the first computer (Plant, 1998) to
recent applications for textile-based interactive surfaces (Wicaksono et al., 2020), it is evident
that "textiles themselves are very literally the software's linings of all technology" (Plant, 1998).
At some point during my experiential explorations, I understood that yarns, strings, and fabrics can hold
and shape various modes of sensory inputs and translate them into a tangible and dynamic form of a
story. While weaving Kian's piece, I observed the pressure I was putting into the loom that required me
to distort my original design; a fact about my body that I was unaware of before that experience. I was
also able to reflect and pinpoint other senses that, to this day, I haven't been able to come up with a
word to describe. Only by analyzing that specific piece while documenting my movement, pressure, and
heartbeat, I can describe how Kian's story has affected me (and many others in my community).
Understanding different carpets and how they are made provides information about the origin of the
work, how many people worked on it, what is the story behind the patterns, and what was the natural
and political climate around that piece that led to the color selection and usage of specific yarn by the
weavers. Transferring this data into a digital environment while translating the experiential knowledge
that comes with the act of crafting from the user could give us a more holistic empathic and discrete
understanding of a displaced person's situation. In my exploration, I concluded that this understanding
should come from both the material of the platform (in the scope of this research, yarns, strings, and
textiles) and the embodied act of crafting (weaving).
The occasion that can cause a person to experience displacement is not exclusive to one community or
part of the world. I believe that the sense of safety that comes with interacting through a glass screen
has increased a sense of detachment and numbness when talking about issues in places like Iran or
Afghanistan. Even when their issues are in the headlines, they are approached as if their pain is in a
museum for others to look at. By providing the possibility of using other materials as a platform for digital
communication and attempting to translate the experiential knowledge embedded in the act of crafting,
I hope that someday these stories won't be considered distant, foreign, and for the others. It can open
the doors for more sympathetic, embodied, and ethical digital interactions.

62

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