Iranian origin artist Afsoon (pen name) has displayed her artworks at New York’s Shirin Art Gallery.
A selection of the artist’s recent series, ‘Persian Expressions’ and ‘Conference of the Birds’ are on show. “The works engage with cultural idioms and explore the essence and humor of the Persian language,” the gallery’s public relations office said on its online portal shiringalleryny.com.
The exhibited mixed-media works on paper portray the visual description of verbal expressions common in the Persian language, says Afsoon.
“In Iran we grew up exchanging all kinds of expressions from an early age. Someone would use one expression; we would laugh, shrug our shoulders and reply with another. We would converse in this way, or, as we say in Farsi, ‘We said flower, we heard flower.’ I have relearned forgotten expressions along with many new ones. Then some became an image, an idea in my imagination.”
Her ‘Conference of the Birds’ series is contemplative. It responds to one of Attar of Nishabur (1145-1221), Persian poet’s mystical 12th century poem.
It shows a flock of birds, which represent human souls, as they go on a long journey searching for something that was within them all along.
Afsoon, 55, spent her childhood in Iran. She moved to San Francisco in her late teens and then settled in London, where she studied printmaking and developed her own techniques in the field.
There are several layers in her work and at times she combines text with images. She also combines different techniques such as collage, linocuts, photography, and etching.
Her works have been extensively exhibited around the world and are found in prominent collections including that of the British Museum, Zoroastrian Foundation in Paris, SPM in Dubai, and Sabanchi collection in Turkey among others. The show will run through April 30.
