Credits: 2025, 4k Video, 21’24”  Courtesy The Artist and Giorgio Persano Gallery, Torino

Driant Zeneli in collaboration with Md. Tasnimul Izaz Bhuiyan, Pulak K. Sarkar, Rafi Nur Hamid, Sondip Roy, Sumaiya Sultana, with the special contribution of Mahmudul Hasan Dipu.

Commissioned by: Samdani Foundation and Museo Castromediano of Lecce (Regione Puglia)

Partners: Art House Foundation, Shkoder (Albania), EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens (Greece), and Civic Museum of Castelbuono, Palermo (Italy).Supported by: Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture within the framework of the Italian Council program (13th edition, 2024).

When winds in Monsoon play, the White Peacock will sweep away is a opera-film by artist Driant Zeneli. Set within the Parliament of Dhaka and the Srihatta Art Centre in Sylhet (Bangladesh), the work unfolds as an allegorical fable featuring a white peacock that falls in love with his own tear.  The story, paced by the six seasons of the Bengali calendar, guides us through multiple layers of interpretation, addressing political and ecological themes, who took reference of the movement, of “July Revolution, 2024, who died more than thousend people from a series of protests and significant government changes in Bangladesh, culminating in the downfall of the regime.

Zeneli reflects on the tensions between the fall, power and love, giving shape to a form of magical realism in which utopias subvert the natural order of things and open up unconventional imaginative spaces. The extraordinary brutalist architecture designed by Louis Kahn becomes an integral part of the narration, both as a physical and metaphorical presence. The film’s voice-over draws inspiration from the Khonar Bachan, ancient proverbs from the Bengali oral tradition associated with Khona, a legendary astrologer and poet. The project is distinguished by the active involvement of young artists in Bangladesh, who contributed to shaping both the narrative and the visual elements of the work. The Baroque soundtrack is rearranged by Maestro Francesco Aliberti and performed by countertenor Pasquale Auricchio, who also acts in the piece. The music, arranged and composed in a contemporary key, merges Baroque influences with Bengali musical traditional instruments and musical elements creating an original and hybrid score.