Between 2018 and 2025, artist-researcher Hoda Siahtiri undertook an intimate journey into the ancestral vocal heritage of Bakhtiari women. Her doctoral project, Singing The Silences, was dedicated to listening, learning, and “coming to voice” with this tradition, treating song as a practice of memory, grief, and resilience.

The research culminated in a two-day closing event at De Kriekelaar (Schaerbeek, Brussels) in June 2025. The first day featured the musical performance Singing The Silences, created with Guillaume Soufrice, which wove together voice, remembrance, and transcendence in dialogue with the women whose songs carried the lineage before her. The second day was her public defence, followed by a gathering with her community.

Through this project, Siahtiri reflected on how ancestral song can be a compass of belonging, inviting audiences to listen not only to music but also to silences and their transformations. Her PhD contributes a deeply embodied perspective on how artistic practice, heritage, and research can interlace as a way of honouring the past while carrying it forward.