Oneness, Shahrzad Ghaffari (2022) (EMPIRE LINES x Leighton House)

Artist Shahrzad Ghaffari replies to orientalism in the Arts & Crafts Movement, William De Morgan’s Arab Hall, and the new contemporary architecture of Leighton House in London, in her Persian poetry-inspired mural paintings.

Since reopening in 2022, Leighton House has commissioned contemporary, often SWANA-based artists, to respond to its interiors and collection - particularly, the vivid ceramic tiles collected from Turkey and Greece, Egypt and Syria, which shroud its 18th century Arab Hall. Iranian-born, Canada-based Shahrzad Ghaffari was the first invited to contribute to the museum’s redesign. A new exhibition, Journey to Oneness, follows her process to construct the helical staircase which now sits at the House’s core – a ‘totem of union’, connecting East and West, the historic and the contemporary.

The artist details how Islamic patterns and Persian poetry permeates her practice, interests shared with the House’s creator, Lord Leighton. Shahrzad describes her movement back to abstract, calligraphic painting after studying graphic design, and why making public art is a physical, constructive act. Plus, she details Iran’s contemporary political landscape which informs Lion and Sun (2010), painted in response to the women-led protests which followed the shooting of Neda Agha-Soltan - and its continued resonance amidst global attention on the death of Mahsa Amini.

Shahrzad Ghaffari: Journey to Oneness runs at Leighton House in London until 1 October 2023. Leighton House is a finalist for the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2023.

For more, you can read my article in recessed.space: https://recessed.space/00013-Leighton-House-Evelyn-De-Morgan-Shahrzad-Ghaffari-Nour-Hage

WITH: Shahrzad Ghaffari, contemporary artist. As a member of the Ghaffari family which sired such Persian masters as Sani-ol-Molk and Kamal-ol-Molk Ghaffari, Shahrzad continues a family tradition spanning 150 years.

ART: ‘Oneness, Shahrzad Ghaffari (2022)’. ADDITIONAL SOUNDS: Nagihan Seymour and Dr Usama Hasan, from Perspectives on the Arab Hall, Smartify audio tour.

PRODUCER: Jelena Sofronijevic.

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