THE FIST AND THE CYPRESS, 2017


boteh, buta (Indian subcontinent); Some scholars believe it's a royal seal, a stylized representation of the side of a closed fist dipped in blood. Others say it's the convergence of a floral spray and a cypress tree: the latter a Zoroastrian symbol of life and eternity.

A fist, a tree, a pine-cone, a river, a flame, a universe. Maybe it signifies all of this at the same time.

... A ruling fist and a bent cypress; bent under the weight of the Arab and subsequent invasions and conquests of Persia, bent under the ruling fist.

But a bending tree is hard to break.







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