The Cupertino Courier
Community
De Anza teacher makes story-telling garments
By Erin Hussey
Many metaphors have been used to describe life: a box of chocolates, a ticking taxi meter, a spider's delicate web. For Nazanin Shenasa, textile artist, art historian and independent curator who teaches at De Anza Community College, life is like an Iranian rug.
"There is an amazing range of possibilities with textiles, particularly with weaving," she says. Shenasa started weaving rugs when she was a teenager.
"It's like a mathematician's dream. You can take the same elements and have a million different combinations, and that interested me. I think at 14 I said 'This is a metaphor for life, I can figure anything out just sitting here.' "
As Shenasa got older, she turned her artist focus to other textiles, particularly surface designs and garments. However, her desire to explore the themes of life remains the same.
"Even though I use really specific cultural references, I try to address universal issues," she says.
Shenasa's handmade silk costume, "Layla's Shroud," is a part of the Material Culture exhibit held at the Euphrat Museum beginning March 7.
In addition to Shenasa, six other textile artists will be exhibited, including Corinne Okada, Cupertino's 2006 "Artist of the Year," and Chike Nwoffiah, the director of the Oriki Theater in Mountain View.
"We wanted to do something that would be good for the students and good for the community and offer areas for discussion," says Jan Rindfleisch, executive director of the Euphrat Museum.
"The pieces are about textiles and the stories behind them. Each piece brings up a very important discussion."
Shenasa's piece, a brilliant red and gold, full-length woman's shroud, addresses the unconsummated love between the ancient Middle Eastern lovers Layla and Majnun. Shenasa's inspiration for "Layla's Shroud" came when she was working on her master's thesis in Islamic art.
"Her parents basically imprisoned her because the man she was in love with kept on composing love poems about her," Shenasa says.
The legend, which was originally an Arab folktale and then adapted by the Iranian culture in the 7th century, tells of the struggle between young lovers, Qays and Layla, much like Romeo and Juliet.
Such is Qays' undying passion that people call him Majnun or "crazy one." He tears his clothes, doesn't eat or sleep and disappears into the desert, where he writes eloquent love poems and sends them to Layla.
Because of family and community pressure, Layla is ordered to forget about Majnun and marry another man. Unbeknownst to her family, Layla continues to stay in touch with Majnun through her own poems that are delivered in secret.
"This character had a lot of internal struggle between what she wanted to do and the direction her heart was pulling her and what her family and community expected her to do," says Shenasa. "I think that is really applicable to most of the students and community here."
Complementing the red and gold silk is a sheer cloth with black Farsi writing quoting a verse from an original poem about Layla and Majnun.
Shenasa explains she chose the verse that describes what Layla, on her deathbed, told her mother.
"She tells her to 'bury me in my bridal robes, but color them red because I have lived as a martyr because I was separated from my beloved,' " Shenasa says.
Shenasa hopes her audience can find a personal connection with "Layla's Shroud."
"I think there is a lot of commentary in this particular story about suffering, expectations and the importance of representation and yet the futility of being so worried about what everyone thinks of you," she says. "I would hope people reflect back on their own life and use this idea to maybe form their own perception of things."
The Material Culture exhibit is free and open to the public. The exhibit will run from March 7 to April 19, with the exception of April 2 to 6. A special artist reception will be held March 20 from 5 to 7 p.m.
For more information on the Material Culture exhibit or the Euphrat Museum, visit www.deazna.edu/euphrat or call 408.864.8836
