Afarin Sajedi

Afarin Sajedi
آفرين ساجدي
Born (1979-12-17) December 17, 1979
Shiraz, Iran
Alma materIslamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch
OccupationsPainter, illustrator
StyleFigurative art, Surrealist art
Websitehttps://afarinsajedi.com/

Afarin Sajedi (Persian: آفرين ساجدي; born 1979) is an Iranian painter and illustrator, from Shiraz. Her paintings are predominantly figurative and feature women merged with a variety of animals or objects. Her works have been exhibited frequently in Iran, London, and Italy.

Early life

Sajedi was born in 1979 in Shiraz, Iran.[1] She has been drawing since childhood, and her family taught her about the Italian Renaissance at a young age. She graduated from Islamic Azad University, Central Tehran Branch in 2004 with a degree in graphic design, with a background in animation and illustration.[2]

Artistic style and influences

Sajedi's art is characterized by surreal and theatrical qualities. Her art often depicts women with expressive features and symbolic elements. Her work is influenced from Japanese theater, Western religious art, and pop surrealism. She is also inspired by filmmakers like David Lynch and Stanley Kubrick, giving her pieces a cinematic narrative quality.[3]

Anya Tchoupakov of Vice magazine described Sajedi's works as "mostly of women, taking on different faces, thrust into various roles, merging into animals, objects, and each other."[4] Her portraits often feature women in elaborate costumes and with symbolic objects, such as fish, which she uses to convey themes of freedom and introspection. Sajedi has stated that she tries to capture human presence and issues within her works, and that her sources of inspiration include symbolist painter Gustav Klimt, Heinrich Boll's The Clown, as well as paintings of humans from the Renaissance.[2]

Career

Between 2001 and 2012, Sajedi showcased works in several solo and group exhibits in Iran.[5] In 2012, Sajedi had her first international showing at Palazzo Valentini in Rome in a Dorothy Circus Gallery group exhibit titled "Inside Her Eyes."[6][7] The following year, Sajedi exhibited again in Rome at the Dorothy Circus Gallery in a four-person exhibit titled "God is Her Deejay."[6] She also exhibited at the Flower Pepper Gallery in Pasadena, California, and the Žitný Ostrov Múzeum in Slovakia.

In 2015, Sajedi was invited by Cité internationale des arts in Paris for a three-month residency.[6] She also hosted a solo exhibition, "The Unseen", at Etemed Gallery in Tehran.[2] From April 16 to May 30, 2016, Sajedi exhibited at Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome once again in a solo exhibit titled "Illusion."[8][9][10] Her installation "The Unseen" was featured at the Venice Biennale in 2017, receiving critical acclaim for its commentary on Iranian culture and history.[11] In 2019, Sajedi had another solo exhibition again with Dorothy Circus Gallery in London.[12]

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, fans from a number of countries posted photos of themselves dressed as Sajedi's paintings.[13] In a Shargh Daily interview, Sajedi mentioned that several museums had challenged people to recreate artworks in real life, and gradually she found more and more people sharing recreations of her work on Facebook and Instagram.[14] From July 30 to September 18, Sajedi was part of Dorothy Circus Gallery's "House of the Rising Light" group exhibition of 42 artists from Asia.[15] In 2023, Sajedi returned to Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome to showcase a solo exhibition, "Bon Appétit" from October 13th to November 10th, described by Collateral Magazine as a "feast of flowers, meat, fish, wine and champagne, serving as powerful metaphors for the transience of life."[16]

References

  1. ↑ "Lo invisible se hace presente en el arte de la iraní Afarin Sajedi". www.20minutos.es - Últimas Noticias (in Spanish). April 29, 2016. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  2. 1 2 3 "نمایش کابوس‌های انسان معاصر / روایت آفرین ساجدی از نمایشگاه "قوی‌تر" در گالری اعتماد" [A display of contemporary human nightmares / Afarin Sajedi's narration of the "Stronger" exhibition at Etemad Gallery]. Honar Online (in Persian). 23 November 2018. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  3. ↑ Habibi, Sophia (31 October 2024). "Corner 39: Afarin Sajedi". Cozy Corner. Archived from the original on 11 November 2024. Retrieved 2025-05-08.
  4. ↑ Tchoupakov, Anya (2 November 2015). "The Grim Beauty of Afarin Sajedi's Portraits". Vice. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  5. ↑ "Afarin Sajedi Timeline". darz.art. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  6. 1 2 3 "Afarin Sajedi". Dorothy Circus Gallery. 2019-02-23. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  7. ↑ Capano, Luigi (2016-05-27). "Fino al 28.V.2016 | Afarin Sajedi, Illusion | Dorothy Circus Gallery, Roma". exibart.com (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  8. ↑ "Volti femminili, pesci, elmi e curiosi occhiali da sole: "Illusion", la prima personale dell'iraniana Afarin Sajedi". www.ilmessaggero.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  9. ↑ "Afarin Sajedi, in mostra il lato pop delle donne iraniane". la Repubblica (in Italian). 2016-04-15. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  10. ↑ "Mind-bending Illusions by Afarin Sajedi are Coming to Dorothy Circus Gallery in Rome". www.widewalls.ch. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  11. ↑ "Surreal and emotional portraits by Afarin Sajedi". www.photographize.co. Retrieved 2025-05-08.
  12. ↑ "Afarin Sajedi". Wall Street International. 2019-02-14. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  13. ↑ "Overseas fans make themselves up like characters in Iranian artist's paintings". Tehran Times. 2020-04-22. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  14. ↑ براتي, پرويز. "معاصريت در خانه" [Contemporaneity at home]. Sharg Daily (Interview) (in Persian). Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  15. ↑ "DCG: HOUSE OF THE RISING LIGHT". James Magazine (in Italian). 2020-07-14. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  16. ↑ Massari, Giorgia (2023-10-12). "Afarin Sajedi's art banquet | Collater.al". Collateral. Retrieved 2025-03-27.
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