Haley Darya Parsa: The sun leaves me to find you
Third Room, Portland, OR
Inkjet print on habotai silk, cyanotypes on cotton sateen, and muslin cotton
December 4, 2020–January 11, 2021
Third Room is pleased to present the debut exhibition of Haley Darya Parsa in Portland, The sun leaves me to find you, a physical exhibition of new work. Parsa’s exhibited work, a continuation of an ongoing series that the artist began under quarantine in Texas, has a renewed emphasis on distance and relation when contextualized in the midst of a global pandemic.
Hand-dyed fabrics, cyanotypes, and a large digital print on silk relay a continuation of the artist’s quiet contemplation of distance, family, the Texas summer heat, global warming, immigration, and the ways we all stay connected.
The sun leaves me to find you continues Parsa’s reflection from her recent online exhibition, Sharing Suns, about what connects us all, a sun that bridges her family across borders and oceans:
The sun leaves me to find them, halfway across the world, and returns back to me. It is with either of us at all times. That’s a beautiful and comforting thought to me. Especially now, as we can’t be together in a physical sense but are being warmed by the same star, as our planet rotates, making its way around it.
While in isolation in Texas, Parsa hand-dyed fabrics and sourced materials from her house and surrounding landscapes to create cyanotypes, a photographic printing process activated by light; the sun becomes a direct material. As Parsa lives in the U.S. and much of her family is in Iran, the sun in this work represents a point of comfort and connection as it travels between them.
In addition to works made in quarantine, this exhibition includes one original piece commissioned by the gallery for the original intended exhibition. Two Weeks (Dec 31, 2019–Jan 14, 2020) was created nearly a year ago, exploring ideas of distance and separation that were already present in the artist’s work and extend beyond the context of the pandemic. A sequential series of front pages of The New York Times is printed on silk, documenting the escalated tensions between Iran and the U.S. and the media's portrayal of impending war. Now exhibited on the anniversary of the events involved, this work acts as a record of a specific window in time but is situated in the context of a longer ongoing history and tumultuous relationship.
“Sharing” the sun implies active, thoughtful participation. Living on the same planet and relying on the same natural resources comes with responsibility–not just environmentally and geopolitically but also socially and culturally. In the midst of this global lockdown, as many of us are isolated from each other and away from the sun, the sun also symbolizes hope, growth, renewal, and what is on the other side.
In addition to The sun leaves me to find you, Parsa still offers Sharing Suns online via the gallery’s website for virtual viewing. Her exclusive edition of risograph zines (also available online for free download) includes works from the show and an interview with Carlotta Wald (Berlin, Germany). The publication is available for purchase, with all proceeds benefiting bail-funds and mutual aid organizations in Brooklyn and in Portland.