Genealogy of Fingerprints

The Iranian family tree is written: it begins with the eldest and branches, like a tree, down to children and grandchildren. In European homes, families are told through photographs, with every generation gathered on a wall. This work explores a third way: neither name nor image, but the trace of the body itself.

A name is given to us by others, and a photograph is taken by a camera, but a fingerprint is what we leave behind, unintentionally, on everything we touch. A genealogy made of touch shows a family not as written or seen, but through the marks of its hands. The polished metal also reflects the viewer, quietly drawing them into the family line.

Each blade represents one family member and carries a fingerprint that is never repeated in anyone else. The blades stand in the order of a family tree, with the father and mother first, followed by the rest of the family. Made of aluminum, bronze and brass, the work was created as a New Year's gift in five unique editions, one for each of five households within one family, so that the new year begins with the imprint of their own hands.