The point of departure for this body of work lies in the images that have lingered in our collective cultural memory through popular cinema—familiar scenes that once narrated love, friendship, betrayal, and heroism, while simultaneously shaping the contours of our shared imagination.
Many of these narratives are rooted in patriarchal structures, where men occupy positions of agency and power, while women are reduced either to seductive, treacherous figures or to silent, symbolic presences. Rather than recreating these cinematic moments, these paintings seek to reflect upon the cultural and historical frameworks that have informed and sustained them.
The works emerge from an encounter between two visual traditions: Persian miniature painting, as an enduring part of the visual heritage of this land, and cinematic imagery embedded in our contemporary memory. Within this convergence, past and present become inseparable, and the boundaries between history, memory, and representation continuously shift and dissolve.
For me, painting is not a medium for reproducing images, but a space in which they can be reconsidered and reimagined. These works function like fragments from an unfinished film, carrying emotions and narratives that continue to resonate within our collective memory. They invite the viewer to contemplate the intricate relationship between image, power, memory, and identity.
