This is a collection of life-size portraits depicting a  diverse group of women. Starting with photographic prints on canvas, I paint, collage, write, spray, and sew onto their portraits. Much of my work has deployed the aesthetics of clothing and bodies to portray my own experiences as an Iranian woman. In this series, I tell the stories of the women behind each portrait, letting their own narratives guide the techniques and materials used in each painting.

Let Us Believe In...

A Land with No Name is a series that takes its inspiration from Persian history–in particular, how complex notions of gender and national identity changed in Iran between the 19th and 20th centuries. As the nation “modernized” into the 20th century, many of its symbols of national identity transitioned to more masculine forms–even the flag’s lioness was changed to a lion.  In this series, these transformations are represented by breaking down the canvas. In some paintings it is shredded and cut, in others burned and etched with a laser cutter. The destruction and remaking of materials have long been a key component of my artistic practice.

A Land with No Name

This collection is made of my body dimensions. I took photo of my body and used them in the works. 

My body is my home

These series are consist of small pieces that is the practice for the larger one. 

Studio practice

My series “Let us believe in the beginning of the cold season” consists of life-size photo prints of a diverse group of women. Starting with photographic prints, I paint, collage, and sew onto portraits of women, responding to the textures of their clothing and faces with paint, thread, and real human hair.  I explore the symbolism of pattern, drawing parallels between ubiquitous American plaid and Iranian weaving, textile, and text.  Hair is the common thread in this series of work but not the only one. In some of the works I use other elements to cover faces. So covering or veiling is a key concept I am working with.

Let Us Believe In The Beginning Of The Cold Season 

This collection consists of small pieces which I usually do as a sketch for a larger piece or get an idea for the future works. 

Studio practice 

Another Birth is about the relationship of human body to rugs. In most of them, audiences can see their reflection in the artworks by a piece of a mirror or aluminium reflection. The patterns are from Persian rugs. These little flowers on rugs seems not important but I made them big in these works to give them character and identity.  Red is the main color in these works that is coming from carpet at the same time is the metaphor for blood.

AnOther Birth 

All work completed since 2011, after my emigration to the United States, are about my relationship to my identity, which includes my body and hair, language, religion, and culture. I ask myself, why have my feelings toward these things changed after emigration? As my identity can change given the context, can this affect my art and, more specifically, what I add to and remove from the work?  Who is my audience? I see myself walking on the edge. One side is an American audience and the other side is an Iranian audience. Working in between is interesting to me. It brings good aspects to my work like duality, contrast, subtlety, and ambiguity.

In Between

Sewing involves the repetition of a motion in relation to the position of what is being sewn. It is the repetition of stitches and moving of the fabric which makes a line. The sewing machine works quickly. With a sewing machine, you have a feeling of excitement such that you would like to leave it alone to do its own work. Women are standing and part of their bodies is hidden behind the canvas. Their clothes become bags or burlap sacks, which take them completely. 

Sara Madandar