A revolution took place in my home that shaped every aspect of our lives. Each of my parents embodied a different side of it. I established neutral boundaries within their respective spheres of control ambiguous borders that neither of them ever acknowledged.

Religion began to seep into the cracks. Wine, music, and dance were banned by fatwa. A framed copy of Velázquez’s Venus was removed from our walls because it depicted nudity.

The revolution cast my mother in the role of a religious crusader. She tried to convert me—something that terrified my father. Religion became his nightmare. All the “impure” items my mother removed from the house were replaced by Islamic imagery. The new images filling our walls included verses from the Quran, a portrait of Imam Ali, and a painting of the headless Imam Hossein on his horse.

This film chronicles the hidden and overt conflicts that shaped our lives. The forbidden images became central to the story. Velázquez’s nudes were deemed vulgar and had to be taken down. My mother struggled with images of herself unveiled, tearing them out of family albums. I used my imagination to piece together what was missing from the photos, sketching in the absent torsos and armless bodies. Throughout my childhood, I was constantly forced to choose between my parents; every single day, I faced imposition from one side and acceptance from the other.

The revolution had played its part, bringing its consequences in its wake.

Firouzeh Khosrovani