Farewell (2020-22)
Farewell is an autobiographical graphic novel that tells the escape story of Sam Yazdanpanna.
This three-part story begins when he leaves Iran as a 17-year-old teenager and says goodbye to his parents. The second part concerns his contact with peoplesmuggler Yilmaz and his connection with the Turkish underworld. Finally, one cold February day, he arrives
at Schiphol airport, where he is detained for two days. He conveys his story quickly and fleetingly in fragments.
The whole journey has been a major identity transformation for Yazdanpanna. ‘It is a moment of letting go, a moment in which you become very fluid.’ As a multimedia artist and filmmaker, he transforms his process of change into animations, interfaces, films and text.
And he is deeply indebted to Yilmaz, the people smuggler.