KHAKHANE

I wanted to enter a world where desire moved freely and identity could be performed in secret. The year 1900, when Iran’s Shah traveled to meet Russia’s Tsar Nicholas II, became a stage for gestures, glances, and forbidden pleasures that history rarely records. I imagined Qajar nobles flirting with young European aristocrats at glittering balls, the boldness, laughter, and coded signals of men exploring desire in a world that forced them into shadows. 

 

With AI, I could step into these forgotten ballrooms, recreate the gestures of desire, and bring the queer lives of Qajar nobles into view. For the first time, I could reconstruct the secret rooms, the grand ballrooms, and the playful performances of queerness among the elite.

 

Muzaffar al-Din Shah borrowed heavily from Russia, spending much of it on extravagant journeys through Europe between 1900 and 1905. These trips became stages for nobles to explore fashion, intimacy, and desire. In salons and ballrooms, men navigated attraction and curiosity with daring confidence while back home the court’s excess widened the distance between rulers and the people. AI allowed me to capture these fleeting gestures, the glances and laughter that left almost no trace in the archives.

​

The Shah’s choices stirred unrest in Iran, culminating in 1906 with the rise of the constitutional movement. Yet for me, the stories that matter are those that existed in the shadows, where desire and performative freedom collided. This project is my way of bringing them into view, of tracing the lives that history tried to hide. Through AI, I can show the opulence, the intimacy, and the desires of a fleeting moment, inviting viewers to inhabit the secret pleasures of a world that was never meant to be seen.