Interdisciplinary Adaptation of the "Martyrdom" Photo Collage by Sharifi from the Painting of " Shirin’s Suicide" in 1505 AD Khamseh Nezami From the Perspective of Genette’s Transtexuality

The photo collage "Martyrdom" by Soodi Sharifi is a manifestation of Western art in the context of Iranian art. This work is taken from the painting "Shirin’s Suicide" of Khamseh Nezami in 886 AH. In the era of post-structuralism and the era of forgetting Iranian paintings of past ages, Sharifi has created an adaptation work by choosing and changing some special symbolic systems in the pretext. The problem is the reason for changing the signs and the artist's use of them, which leads to a different meaning in the adapted work. This research tries to answer two questions: 1. In this process of extraction, what symptom systems have been changed or removed that have led to a change of meaning? 2. What are the differences between these two effects? The goal is to achieve and to recognize the type of changes in the noble text. Therefore, the study of this work along with the existing pretexts can fill the gap in studies in this field. The research method is descriptive-analytical and comparative and the two considered effects of Gerard Genette's transtexual approach have been examined. The method of collecting information relies on library (filing) and interviewing the artist. Based on the obtained results and using sign systems, the duality of meaning was observed in a noble effect. In this work, a kind of comparison between the literary subjects of the past centuries of Iran and contemporary events can be seen. In other words, the "Shirin’s suicide" of the Nezami is considered symmetrical and opposite, honoring the issue of martyrdom in the Iran-Iraq war and the statue of Pieta by Michelangelo, and the death of Christ. The changes brought about by this shift from Islam to Christianity and vice versa have changed the gender and nature of the painting. The most important change, made in the dominant type, is a permutation, because, without the replacement of some elements, the new creation would not have taken place in Sharifi’s work. In this study, with the help of the typology of transtextuality, among the five types introduced by Genette, two types of hypertextuality and intertextuality, that deal with the relationship between artistic texts, are diagnosed. Hypertext is present in both cases under investigation. Thus, the relationship between the poetic text of Khosrow and Shirin by Nezami and the visual text of Soodi Sharifi is based on hypertext, and the interdisciplinary relationship between poetry and photography is seen. Duality of meaning was observed in the Sharifi’s work due to the replacement and change of some sign systems. The artist has achieved a dual identity through his adaptation by simultaneously incorporating symbols of Christianity and Islam. By doing so, Sharifi has used Nezami’s work and created a new piece to direct the semantic path of the Khamseh’s image towards contemporary issues; this is Genette's definition of parody, which has a different meaning. He has achieved his goal by bringing several semiotic factors; including 1- Bringing the key which is the way to enter sky or heaven and to return the young man. 2- Bringing Islamic clothing for women. 3- Renaming the Nezami’s work from "Shirin’s Suicide" to "Martyrdom". Examining these cases has revealed that Sharifi intends to refer to the Iran-Iraq war and to criticize the current situation in psychological and expressive ways, but other layers of belief have been brought in his work, which may have originated from the artist's living environment. Despite spending most of his life in a Christian community, he also depends on several religious affiliations in Iranian society. Therefore, this can be one of the reasons for combining and then replacing this work with the work of Pieta by Michelangelo, and the sculpture of Pieta, as a prelude to Sharifi’s work, itself has semantic independence. Another reason is the similarity and substitution of martyrdom in Islam with the ascension of Jesus in Christianity, which exists in both ascension and entry into heaven, so among the different motives of the artist, we reach semantic diversity in Sharifi’s work. In general, Sharifi's work shows a kind of symmetry between the literary subjects of past centuries in Iran with contemporary events. In other words, the suicide of Nezami’s Shirin is considered symmetrical and opposite concerning the issue of martyrdom in the Iran-Iraq war with the statue of Pieta of Michelangelo and the death of Christ. The changes made for this turn from Islam to Christianity and vice versa have altered the gender and nature of the image, that is, there has been a shift. In between, some elements of the image are completely identical in the work of Sharifi with the picture of Nezami, and there is intertextuality of the quotation type with direct or explicit reference. Therefore, Sharifi’s work has been expanded and changed both in terms of the external structure of the work and in terms of qualitative content towards the image of Shirin’s suicide.