Exhibition : from June 19 until September 30 2009

Through her art, Nazanin Afshar focuses on identity questions in order to illustrate the individual as an autonomous being, which builds a large part of his/her identity through social relations and through positioning against the other. According to the artist, and because society is organized as it is, this way of building one’s identity draws human beings away from their authentic nature. A sort of disability and imprisonment ensues. Indeed, driven by the desire for recognition and identification among society, the individual learns to be what he/she is told to be. Such training creates an inner fault line between one’s social identity and one’s personal identity. The conflict that follows may be quite painful as it forces the individual to often withdraw into a world of sadness, hypocrisy, and disingenuousness.

Abstaining from moral judgment, Nazanin is, nevertheless, questioning these ways of shaping identity. With her drawings, she wants to go beyond appearances to reach the identity layer that belongs to one. The lines used in the drawings are, thus, subjective and emotional. They try to convey what the artist has grasped from those who supported her artistic approach and those who have confided in her. Each drawing describes a personal story of an individual that entered into a dialogue with the artist based on trust. In addition, acceptance of one’s nudity by oneself while facing the artist suggests the sincere involvement in the delicate exercise to search for a true nature, indicating furthermore the implicit willingness to find oneself.

Usually working with a colour-rich palette, Nazanin has chosen for this project to limit herself to the use of black ink. The black colour comes to life with the use of different brushes, different types of paper and water. According to the artist, the method allows the viewer to understand more rapidly the substance of the work which goes beyond what is seen at first sight. As she explains, what really matters in these drawings is not so much the figurative representation as the hidden detail that is to be found in a straying look, in some reduced features or even more in something indefinable that remains confined in the imprecise lines of a face.

To better let our senses wander before her pictures, Nazanin makes it a point not to give them titles. She believes that titles are subliminal and that they therefore influence the viewer emotionally without him/her realizing it. She thus invites our inspirations to form the titles,, the deeper meaning of the works and the answers to the following questions: Can one know oneself? How feasible is it to really know the others?

NAZANIN AFSHAR

Born in Isfahan, Iran, in 1977, Nazanin Afshar grew up in a rich artistic environment that situated two architectural wonders: the Chehel Sotoun Palace and the magnificent Nagsh-e-Jahan Mosque. Nazanin quickly saw her destiny in art, particularly in pictorial creation. Choosing this path, however, obliged her to leave her hometown for Tehran, which is 300 kilometers south of Isfahan.

Nazanin first took interests in photography at the University of Azahra, and then graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in painting at the University of Azad in 2000. She continued her academic training by attending a fellowship program lead by renowned Iranian artists such as Ahmad Vakili and Hannibal Alkhas. This allowed her to better master her techniques and to complete her quest for a personal unique language. In 2005, she moved to Montreal to continue her free exploration of various themes.

Having grown up around the time of the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran, Nazanin has since created a body of works in which her principal subject focuses on the condition of women in her homeland. With a specific interest in the contemporary history of women, she depicts the constraints that envelop women’s life in Iran. Her approach prioritizes introspection with forms and colors that unveil embodied and internalized pain. She received the First Prize at the University of Azahra in photography and has participated at several exhibitions in Tehran and Montreal since 1997. She now teaches painting at her Montreal studio and pursues her search for a painting career that is sincere and without compromise.

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