Islamic Art

Islamic Art

Frozen Time and Endless Repetition in Sohrab Shahid Saless’s Still Life: A Nietzschean–Comparative Reading in Relation to the Aesthetics of Silence and Repetition in Islamic Art

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
1 Department of Art Studies, SR.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 Department of Philosophy of Art, NT.C., Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/ias.2026.601211.2483
Abstract
The present study aims to analyze frozen time, repetition, silence, stasis, and space in the film and to compare these elements with selected aesthetic features of Islamic art. In terms of purpose, the study is fundamental research, while methodologically it adopts a qualitative, descriptive–analytical, and comparative approach. Data were collected through documentary research and direct observation of the film and were analyzed at two levels. At the first level, the film’s formal elements were examined in relation to eternal recurrence, nihilism, and cinematic temporality. At the second level, these elements were compared with ornamental repetition, stasis, empty space, and spatial introversion in Islamic art. The findings demonstrate that the static camera, long takes, reduced dramatic action, repetition of everyday activities, and restricted dialogue generate an experience of “frozen time” in which the passage of time does not lead to any qualitative transformation in the protagonist’s life. The comparative findings further indicate that repetition, silence, stasis, and space, despite their formal similarities across the two aesthetic systems under examination, acquire different semantic functions. In Still Life, these elements are associated with everyday monotony, isolation, and the obstruction of transformation, whereas in certain forms of Islamic art they may contribute to order, continuity, and contemplation. The study ultimately argues that the relationship between Shahid Saless’s cinematic form and the aesthetics of Islamic art can be explained through the principle of “formal similarity and semantic difference,” without presupposing any direct historical influence between the two.
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