Formed in 2020 by Iranian-Australian Bahá’í video artist Elham Eshraghian-Haakansson and performer, theatre-maker and musician Asha Kiani, Second Generation Collective aims “to illuminate and celebrate the profound beauty, complexity, and diversity of Iranian culture—its art, people, and spiritual depth—far beyond the narrow frames [through which] it can be viewed or depicted. Iran is not a monolith but a rich tapestry of communities, languages, and evolving traditions,” explains Eshraghian-Haakansson.
The result of a creative development with Western Australian artist Abdul-Rahman Abdullah, the exhibition Vádye Eshgh (The Valley of Love) will feature work by an expanded Collective in an immersive weaving of poetry, moving text, dance, music, moving image, and theatre to reveal journeys of fleeing homelands, rebuilding identity, and learning to belong in new spaces together. “The rich narrative and sensory engagement,” Eshraghian-Haakansson says, “transforms passive watching into deep, empathic remembrance. This is how we not only document history but reimagine and internalise it—ensuring these cultural memories live vibrantly in us all.”
The title is a reference to the Seven Valleys, written in exile by Bahá’u’lláh, the founder of the Bahá’í Faith. With its members belonging to a diaspora, Second Generation Collective similarly creates identity in a type of exile, responding to the moments before and after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Love is a call to a connection beyond borders. Kiani speaks of the future, inspiring storytelling across geographies and cultural groups, and encouraging “artists to rise up and use their work as an act of service to humanity”.
Second Generation Collective: Vádye Eshgh (Valley of Love)
Perth Institute of Contemporary Art
17 October—21 December
This article was originally published in the September/October 2025 print edition of Art Guide Australia.
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