These roots never blossomed

In the sou­t­hern rea­ches of Tehran, the capi­tal of Iran, lies Kahrizak — a town whe­re his­to­ry lin­gers in qui­et evo­lu­ti­on, steeped in echoes of the past. It is home to a sugar refi­ne­ry born from Belgian hands — a seed sown in a once-fer­ti­le lands­ca­pe of lush lawns, brim­ming with pro­mi­se and nur­tu­ring dreams of pro­gress and the bloom of industrialization.

Now, the refi­ne­ry stands half-rui­ned yet ste­ad­fast, sur­roun­ded by gra­ves, decay, and spraw­ling mass con­struc­ti­on. Its wrinkled walls bear the inde­li­ble marks of time, a silen­ced wit­ness to the rise and fall of its sur­roun­dings and the relent­less trans­for­ma­ti­on of the regi­on. Kahrizak’s refi­ne­ry is more than just a relic of the past; it stands as a pro­found sym­bol of what was lost and sacri­fi­ced as ambi­ti­on res­ha­ped the land.

This per­for­man­ce is a result of Sana’s research pro­ject Sugar Cubes, an explo­ra­ti­on of the his­to­ric indu­stri­al ties bet­ween Belgium and Iran in the sugar industry. Read here all about Sana’s work.