Soleil of Persian Square

Soleil of Persian Square is an investigation into the visual identity of the Iranian diaspora lifestyle in Los Angeles. It attempts to give a face to this fictional city called Tehrangeles, which Hannah Darabi discovered through images associated with popular music in her teenage years. The aim here is to weave links between ordinary landscapes of Los Angeles and Orange County – as bearers of traces of this Iranian diaspora -, portraits of its inhabitants, and objects from popular culture, such as cassette sleeves, song lyrics, screenshots of music videos from the 1980s and 1990s, or even pages from directories devoted to the activities of this diaspora.

Soleil of Persian Square is not only a journey from real to imaginary space, but also a way of life and a way of thinking embodied in popular culture. This culture, which today is in opposition to the moral values of the current Iranian regime, and which secular intellectuals criticize for its “low art” side, has nevertheless survived, notably through the pop music of Tehrangeles. This music that we love to “hate” has never lost its place in the heart of this scattered nation, and has never ceased to move our bodies, whether in a cab in Tehran, at the home of friends in Paris, or in a concert in Toronto.