zelzele We stand on nothing absolutely solid
2026, visual art book170 × 260
188 pages
The book is inspired by the Murakka — a traditional Persian album (emerging around the 15th century), a kind of “contemplative album” created for the owner’s private reflection, an inner journey through images and text. The word murakka means “that which has been stitched together,” and the form embodies a Persian way of seeing the world as scattered, fragmentary, composed of pieces.
In the mythological space of the book, film photographs, VHS stills, and Persian expressions act as optical switches: they shift perception and redirect attention along an inner trajectory of contemplation. A blank figure moves through this space — a neutral human form from which any person can be imagined, including the viewer themselves. The Persian language shares this quality: it can hold something small, concrete, almost everyday — and at the same time an entire world. In this field of meanings, where a human being connects with the cosmos, fragments begin to align, echoing the Persian motif of what is scattered seeking to be assembled by the one who sees.
authors: Yana Osman, Anton Khamchishkin
curator: Zhenia Yakhina / bookelab
сover and endpapers: Anya and Varya Kendel
