Mohadese Movahed
Born in 1988, Tehran, Iran, Mohadese Movahed is a visual artist whose studio practice focuses on painting, drawing, and intaglio printmaking. She completed her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Tehran at the University of Science and Culture and moved to Canada in 2017, where she completed her Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Regina, Saskatchewan.
In her work, Movahed expresses her thoughts and identity as a contemporary Iranian artist who has lived almost her entire life in Iran. Movahed was born ten years after the Islamic revolution of 1979 and raised in the post-revolutionary period. Growing up under the rule of a religious government, the highest levels of religious restrictions based on Islamic beliefs, values, and ideas that encompass all spheres of life were imposed on her. Living under oppression had profoundly affected Movahed’s life and her art practice.
Her studio practice addresses the psychology of authority and the impact of living under oppression to present critiques around authoritarian political and social systems. Creating unconventional situations, she brings her experience of living in an oppressive society to her works to convey narratives that are politically and socially charged. Metaphor is a perfect structure for Movahed to use to transform political and social events into poetic allegories.
Mohadese Movahed Artist Talk
If You See a Cypress…
My recent body of work, “If You See a Cypress…” reflects Iran’s present-day social and political identity as well as its continuous issues. Creating uncommon perspectives and circumstances, I use metaphor to depict stories of oppression, resistance and a range of social and psychological effects of living under tyranny. In “If You See a Cypress…” the image of a cypress tree as a cultural and mythological signifier existing in my personal memory, along with other elements of landscape such as mountains, rocks, cliffs, and water, metaphorically embody the suffering, pain, wounds, and despair of living under totalitarian rule as well as resistance, solidarity, hope, and action towards a collective goal taught by living under oppression. I use cypress trees metaphorically to represent people who sometimes inanimate and passive bystanders exposed to oppression and injustice and at other times, the cypress trees portray people who are standing strong and resolute to make significant changes.
Working two-dimensionally on several different substrates, such as canvas, wood panel, paper, and copper plate, I intend to explore the qualities of each ground along with the different visual experiences that each process and surface allows. My intaglio prints are created using a combination of techniques such as etching, aquatint and spitbite.
Living in the Shadow, Oil on paper, 50” x 37”, 2019
Doom, Oil on paper, 50” x 37”, 2019
Against Compulsion, diptych: oil on canvas, 11” x 9” and Charcoal and oil on paper, 50” x 37”
Mass Grave, Micron pen on paper, 30” x 22”, 2018
Obliterated, etching, aquatint and spit bite, frame size: 19” x 13”, 2019