Diasporistan

video, 5:54, 2024.

Throughout the past several decades, Afghan musicians have been releasing folk and pop music videos that have reached audiences both in Afghanistan and the diaspora. These videos exist as deteriorated relics throughout the internet, allowing viewers to see what the country’s future could hold by exploring its cultural production in the past fifty years. Diasporistan pays homage to these music videos by bringing together language, stereotypes, and clichés with pixelated images. Featuring an unnamed character dressed in Afghan drag who navigates fragmented spaces, the film explores the ultimate exaggeration of female diasporic identity and serves as a satirical commentary on the state of the Afghan diaspora. The collage of urban, natural, and domestic environments creates a dreamlike landscape in which the past, present, and future converge to the tune of a looping rubab track. English and Farsi are intentionally left without translation in order to challenge viewers of varying backgrounds to engage with the work on multiple levels and reflect on the intersections of language and identity.