ARTIST STATEMENT
My work explores human relationships and uses metaphorical approaches for depicting emotions that can be involved in various human interactions. I agree with Peeren that “there is a unique way in which the maker and the appreciator of a metaphor are drawn to each other.” (Peeren, 2014)
I am interested in pointing out different ways of looking at one story and storytelling and narratives play significant roles in my practice. My art is mostly related to my personal experiences. How we, as humans experience belongingness, is my main interest now, and creating art helps me to explore and research this sense. My work mainly emphasizes the experience of each story for human beings, not the story itself. By indicating different perspectives, I encourage the viewer to engage in and review their lived experiences. Paolo Freire’s ideas about developing communication and communication for social change have directly impacted my artistic intentions. Developing dialogues that involve creating a democratic space where everyone’s voice is given equal weight has been one of my aims throughout my art practice.
The artworks I create are mostly figurative but are not limited to one medium. In my current project, I make sculptures, prints, and paintings to develop my ideas and depict what I have in mind. In this project, I use ceramic containers as metaphors for human relationships and start a dialogue about experiences such as love, loss, connection, and betrayal. Familiarity, touch, and intimacy are important factors in my artworks and I am interested in asking and creating questions, not necessarily answering them directly.
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References:
Peeren, E. (2014). The Spectral Metaphor. London Palgrave Macmillan Uk.
CRITICAL REFLECTION
In these short essays, I will outline and reflect on some of the ideas and techniques that inform my current painting research and practice.
My work is mostly about human relationships and dealing with often contradictory emotions such as love, loss, connection, care and belonging. I make objects that are often performative, paint and make prints in order to unfold psychological approaches towards the way humans communicate with each other. In these essays I will elaborate my practice-based research and the main concerns I have had during the last months of working on this project. My contextual research in embedded in these short essays as well.
“I'm still understanding. I'm still coming out, settling in the realisations that I was never not in them. I had never left them, though I longed to stay. I did not know in my mind what my body sensed. I realized recently that to claim one's body fully is to be intimately acquainted with pain. And once that knowledge becomes deeply embedded, another one blossoms. In the depth of pain lives the flower of pleasure. In the loss of self, the yielding to gravity, the latent ever-present agent of death, and of belonging.” (Jagoe, 2020)
Reference:
Jagoe, R. (2020). On care. Ma Bibliothèque.
EXTENDED RESEARCH
I presented my research titled "Landscape and Belongingness" at UAL x OCAD Outside In Conference in May 2022.
In this presentation, I talk about how the way landscapes are represented through art, can impact our sense of belonging to them. By researching the relationship between the landscape of homeland and belongingness, I try to find answers to this question: how can art help immigrants living in a new cultural environment to feel more connected to the landscapes of their new country?
Growing up in a place, seeing certain landscapes often, and having them as the background of our lives ties them to our memories and lived experiences. In this presentation, by researching Iran’s ancient and modern art, I take a look at the influences that art has on my and many Iranians’ sense of belonging to the sceneries of Iran.
Poetry is a form of art that is used daily by people in Iran. I will be using examples of Ferdowsi’s and also other poets’ poems in which Iran’s landscape has a significant role. I believe that growing up with these poems has a deep impact on the belongingness that Iranian kids grow. It is also interesting to see how Iran's landscape can be seen in other forms of art. By talking about Iran’s architecture, ceramics, miniatures, and handmade crafts I elaborate on how the landscapes that people have lived in for thousands of years, have blended into the arts they created and resulted in even more belongingness towards the environment.
I will end my presentation by talking about the examples of immigrants and exiled artists, who have tried to find their place in their new countries through art and by exploring the landscapes of their secondary homeland.
What comes in this section is a recording of my presentation in this conference, slides and the text of my speech.