About

This exhibition showcases the works of three young Iranian artists, Bibi Manavi, Rana Khadem and Navid Azimi Sajadi, whose contemporary interpretations are directly rooted in the ancient Iranian crafts of embroidery, mirror mosaics, woodworking and ceramics.

Bibi Manavi produces renderings of cellular patterns. These compositions are then enlarged, recreated in mirror and carved into wood using traditional Iranian craft techniques. In addition, Bibi curates the section ‘Stitching Baluchestan’, a linear narrative of the evolution of one of the most intricately embroidered patterns in the world: Baluchi needlework.

Rana Khadem’s mixed-media piece with embroideries is inspired by the seafood-heavy diet of the people of the Persian Gulf, unsustainable because of the presence of heavy mercury in fish. She discovered the Golabatoun embroidery technique, whose central practice is in the island of Hormozgan and has been used for centuries to decorate clothing and various objects.

In Sigillum, Navid Azimi Sajadi creates a body of work which consists of a group of glazed sgraffito stoneware ceramics together making up a constellation-like installation. In this imaginary journey, elements of the esotericism of Mediterranean and Middle Eastern culture merge and consolidate, showing a contrast and, at the same time, a harmonic fusion.