Traces of A Reality to Come: body-library-animal
An abiding concern of mine has always been how an artist can respond to the immediate reality that invades her sensorium without her art regressing into crude propaganda. Is there a way to create a tension-filled synthesis between engagement with the reality around you and delving into the intricacies of the history of the medium you are working with? The poetics of my work are aimed at such an impossible synthesis. Through this synthesis, I aim to absorb the contours of the events around me into my work but only and only through critically working on the colors and the possibilities that the history of my medium provides me with; it is as if by absorbing the sediment of the political events such as Woman, Life, Freedom into my work, I can retroactively read the past of my artistic medium in different and fresh ways; the immediacy of the events around me sheds light on the hidden paths in the history of my medium. When I look at the history of painting from the perspective of the lacerated and mutilated bodies of Iranian women, of whom I am one, the invisible crevices of this history reveal themselves; colors take new significance, and techniques of my profession decode themselves into new meanings. I can encapsulate the trajectory of my work in three stages: body- library-animal.
Specter of the National Library of Iran
2024
The "Specter of the National Library of Iran" collection emerges from a deeply personal and historical context, rooted in a time of intense political upheaval. While working on my M.A. thesis, the "Woman, Life, Freedom" movement shattered the illusion of stability, forcing a confrontation with the harsh realities of state repression. The National Library, with its fusion of modern and traditional architecture, became the focal point of my artistic expression. As the regime silenced voices and emptied the library of its vibrant life, the once-bustling space transformed into a haunting void, populated only by the memories of those who had once filled its halls. This series captures the desolation, the absence, and the lingering specters of a place that had been a sanctuary for thought and creativity, now turned into a silent witness to the oppressive power that seeks to erase all traces of life and resistance.
The Solar Anus: A Constellation of Bodies and Power
2016-2021
The Solar Anus collection was conceived during a tumultuous period in my life as an artist, marked by the eruption of the Green Movement in 2009. The post-election protests, symbolized by the widespread placard "Where is my vote?", disrupted our lives, leaving us grappling with a world that suddenly felt both familiar and alien. As a student, I sought to make sense of this chaos through my artistic practice, striving to create a body of work that encapsulated the complexity and contradictions of the time.
My search for an "objective correlative" led me to the visceral imagery of medicine, particularly the deformity of pills, which I began to explore as symbols of the fragmented and tortured human body. This exploration deepened as I encountered the stark realities of endoscopy images, reflecting the brutality inflicted on bodies in the streets. The ancient art of Persian painting, Negargari, with its idealized depictions of the female form, provided a poignant contrast to these contemporary horrors. By merging these two visual languages—one rooted in historical power and the other in modern suffering—I sought to evoke a utopian hope amid the despair, culminating in the creation of The Solar Anus.
This collection explores the enduring paradox of the female body in Iranian history, caught between the sublime and the abject. Through my work, I aim to dissolve this dichotomy, envisioning a future where these tensions no longer bind the female form to patriarchal narratives. The Solar Anus stands as both a reflection of a painful past and a hopeful gesture toward a liberated future.
