This is the first solo show in the UK of the outstanding photographer, installation- and multi-media artist Parastou Forouhar. She was born in 1962 in Tehran, and since 1991 has lived in Germany. Her work is a response to the dramatic social changes that she experienced after the 1979 Iranian Revolution and her subsequent experience of displacement on arriving in Europe. More recently, a profound and terrible influence was the politically motivated murder of her parents in Teheran in 1998 by secret agents.
Forouhar’s imagery is surprisingly witty, occasionally dark and often humorously macabre. For example, the installation “The
Funeral” is a set of office chairs covered in a garish, mass-produced material sold in Tehran’s street markets for Ashura, the annual Shiite ceremony that mourns the martyrdom of Imam Hossein. Originally these printed shrouds came in symbolic, plain shades, but today they are printed in day-glo colours for an interesting blend of religion with pop culture. Standing empty in a room, they commemorate the absent victims who once sat in them. “Eslimi” (“Ornaments”) is a fabric pattern-book of deceptive charm. Look closer and we see the patterns are composed of instruments of torture such as whips, knives, needles, knuckledusters and pistols
– elements that reappear in the mesmerising “Digital Drawings”, which seem decorative from afar, but are actually kaleidoscopic
patterns of gruesome objects and events. The series, “Signs” plays on the imagery of road and traffic signs to express the battle of
the sexes in Iran: for women, there is “no entry” and “access denied”, while men enjoy “right of way”. Individually and together,
the works are startling, thought-provoking, and disturbingly attractive.
Contact the organizer for latest event info. Kodoom.com is not responsible for any changes made in the above information. Report or Flag this event
