NATURE
DROWN LIKE A FISH
Acrylic on canvas, 70 x 50 cm, 2023
Sea floor or sky?
Mountain or wave?
Birth or death?
From the moment we are born, we gradually drift away from our feelings, interests, and the desires of our hearts. We strive to become what others expect of us. Ironically, these expectations are also shaped by lifestyle advertising and media-driven portrayals.
The nature of a fish is not to drown. This contrast suggests that such an action is voluntary. Sometimes, to rediscover ourselves, we must become nothing. We must be reborn from nothingness.
THE RETREAT
Acrylic on canvas, 160 x 100 cm, private collection, September 2023
We can escape from people by retreating to a place where no one can find us, but can we escape from ourselves?
TREE
2017-2021
The tree has appeared in my drawings since childhood. I grew up in a green area, always surrounded by trees. As a child, I also had a very complicated relationship with my family. The tree became a symbol of my desire for a warm, supportive family. For many years, whenever I wanted to make a new decision or start a new chapter in my life, I would go to nature and draw, using it to mentally release myself.
We are connected to an infinite source of power, which is the nature and essence of all of us. We are full of power. Some of us live this power, while others don’t even know it exists.
In nature, each creature becomes what it was meant to be. The wheat will become wheat, and the lion will not become a donkey. It is only humans who, if they do not find themselves, end up with something less than what they were created for.
PAREIDOLIA PAINTING
2005-2017
I am always searching for new forms, but sometimes, as part of my brainstorming process, I prefer not to focus on specific things and instead look around in a more general way. I enjoy creating a fading image of something that allows the viewer to interpret it in their own way.
BODY/STONE
2015-2019
From time to time, when I need to become tougher and take a step forward in my life, I get inspiration from the stone. To me, the stone is interesting both in terms of form and characteristics. At the same time, it gives a sense of strength and resistance and has a dynamic form that allows us to think freely.
COEXISTENCE
Fabric, 2014
In 2014 as an immigrant the concept of “always traveling” was so interesting for me. I took inspiration from Iranians nomadic lives and their close relation with nature. It is not absolutely easy to live in the wild nature. They have to be very strong and flexible. Their lifestyle changes their relationship with their own body, environment, and other people. All of these define their existence.
In this process, a human transforms into another one and gradually becomes part of the place.
THE STONE
Papier mache, 2015
After two years of my immigration I thought about the value of having doubt in the process of growth. DOUBT means not being sure and seeing everything from a different point of view. Generally, we have an image of things; but I like to build a new image. It looks like a stone, but it is not. It looks like a garment but it is not. It seems naked but it is not. Things have different aspects.
WAITING / MEMORY of CHOCLATE
Papier mache, 2015
I created it for a group exhibition “Hello sweetie” for the expo in Milan. Expo 2015’s theme was “Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life”
In the 20th century, chocolate was considered an essential ration for US soldiers during the war. When the soldiers returned home, they took chocolate with them. This is a gesture of lovers and families of soldiers who sit and wait for their return. One of the feet has a heel, which indicates that this person can be a woman or a man. It is united with the environment to show how this world can affect and change our lives.
THE LEAF
Leaf, 2014
It was a dress that I made from a leaf which I then returned to the tree. This reflects an idea rooted in Eastern philosophy: we are all part of a greater whole, a unity within diversity.
THE TREE OF BODY
Fabric & Wood, Golestan Gallery, Tehran, Iran, 2013
“The Tree of Body” is the name of the collection that I had been working on for five years and I finally presented it in 2013, just before I left my home country.
There was a time when hands appeared in my works. I was so shy that I could not look at people’s faces. It was very stressful for me so I looked at their hands and I thought how much their hands revealed their real character and personality. This was and still is my conscious reason.
This collection was a combination of delicacy and strength, silk and wood, weaknesses and strengths, anima and animus, with guard or without guard and naked.
We don’t know how strong or sensitive we are until we find ourselves in specific situations and we show certain characteristic that we might not even know they’ve ever existed. Sometimes for us, strength means hiding our vulnerability and shielding ourselves with armor, but the most amazing things happen when we embrace all of our contradictory characteristics.
HUG
Fabric & Wood, 2016
After immigrating, the city was grey for me for years so I was looking for beauty and familiar signs to find my new identity. The nature of the city was the same old familiar person that gave me a sense of security, a warm hug.
MY TREE
Plaster, Wood & Fabric, 2012
I took a mold from my own hand. I wanted to be dominant in my life. My desire was to grow and go forward to have my world in my hands.
DRAWING ON TREE
Acrylic on Photo Print, 2012
I took a photo of a tree, printed it, and drew on it. The complicated forms of the branches allowed me to find the subtle forms of the body. I wanted to show the internal state of a person by covering and adding some parts.