Blog Archives

Week in review: May 10 – 16

Along with Zainab Amadahy I participated in an interview on CIUT radio with the Vibe Collective on the 10th. Short interview so I didn’t get to explore the relations between art and healing, though embodiment and breath were discussed. On

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Posted in Week in review

The “Other” ambassador and the “Fascination of Persia”

In addition to getting overshadowed by Robert Sherley’s figure and posturings, Sampsonia/Teresia‘s narrative gets mixed with the story of Naqd Ali Beg, a Persian who showed up in England as ambassador from Shah Abbas. His presence totally messed up Robert’s

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Posted in Image, Knowledge base

Sampsonia, 5: the “honourable company”

Excerpts from Wright, Denis. The Persians Amongst the English: Episodes in Anglo-Persian History. London: I.B. Tauris & Co., 1985. Pp 1-9 A note on the source: Perhaps because this book was published in 1985, height of anti-Iran sentiments in the

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Posted in Knowledge base, Script

Sampsonia, 4: and Shakespeare

Excerpts from Ghani, Cyrus. Shakespeare, Persia, and the East. New York: Mage Publishers, 2007. In 1600 Queen Elizabeth had chartered a commercial company named the East India Company, which was given monopoly of trade between East and West. In 1615

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Sampsonia, 3: thrice worthy and undaunted lady Teresia

Excerpts from Shirley, Evelyn Philip. The Sherley brothers, an historical memoir of the lives of Sir Thomas Sherley, Sir Anthony Sherley, and Sir Robert Sherley, knights (1848). Retrieved from Archive.Org 05/04/2014 That Robert Sherley had attained a competent knowledge of

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Posted in Archival material, Script

Sampsonia, 2: silk trade, image and fashion

Excerpt below are from: Arthur, Kate. “‘You will say they are Persian but let them be changed’: Robert and Teresa Sherley’s Embassy to the court of James.” In MacLean, G. ed. Britain and Muslim World: Historical Perspectives. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars

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Posted in Knowledge base, Script

Sampsonia, 1: tracing a Persianate woman’s agency

So far, this has been the most challenging part of this project. It’s detective work, following leads and threads, often in endnotes and footnotes. There are only two articles, both written by Bernadette Andrea, that somewhat feature Sampsonia (Sanpsonia) aka

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Posted in Knowledge base, Script

Sampsonia aka Teresia Sherley: notes and sources

[updated 08/05/2014 with additional sources] Although Sampsonia (also spelled Sanpsonia), a Circassian woman who married Robert Sherley and went to Europe with him is not the first Persian in Europe, she is the first woman whose name is mentioned in

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Posted in Character notes and sources, Knowledge base, Script

Present version of the proposal

Currently in development, Passages is a multi-platform body of work that draws from real and imagined travelogues written during the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries by Persianate travelers. Contact between the Persianate world (ethno-culturally diverse societies in south, west and

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Posted in Image, Project update