The Wick List

Viewing Nasim Hantehzadeh: Ray of Light

The Wick - Nasim Hantehzadeh
At the end of the day, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh At the end of the day, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

The Wick - Nasim Hantehzadeh
Hugging myself, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh Hugging myself, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

The Wick - Nasim Hantehzadeh
Last year was the 10th year, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh Last year was the 10th year, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

The Wick - Nasim Hantehzadeh
On the night of the full moon, we learned to trust each other, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh On the night of the full moon, we learned to trust each other, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

The Wick - Nasim Hantehzadeh
The circle, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh The circle, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

The Wick - Nasim Hantehzadeh
Which way is time moving? All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh Which way is time moving? All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh At the end of the day, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh Hugging myself, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh Last year was the 10th year, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh On the night of the full moon, we learned to trust each other, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh The circle, 2022. All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Above Nasim Hantehzadeh Which way is time moving? All images courtesy of the artist and Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London.

Nasim Hantehzadeh: Ray of Light
Pippy Houldsworth Gallery, London

18 November 2022 — 7 January 2023
www.houldsworth.co.uk/exhibitions/125-nasim-hantehzadeh-ray-of-light/press_release_text/

Zip over to Pippy Houldsworth Gallery this November to see the first UK solo exhibition by LA-based Iranian artist Nasim Hantehzadeh. Inspired by everything from Palaeolithic cave paintings and indigenous art from Mexico to Islamic architecture and ancient Persian rug patterns, Hantehzadeh creates deeply personal works that reflect their cultural duality and explore personal and collective memory.

They also addresse themes of identity, personhood, sexuality and race, evoking a world in which categories are deliberately in flux and undefined. In At the End of the Day (2022), for instance, the embellished orifices and sexual organs are transfigured from the corporeal to the otherworldly. The gate is open, meanwhile, is a meditation on vulnerability and openness in the face of the country’s extreme laws against LGBT people.

By dismantling preconceptions of a pre-modern Islamic gender system, Hantehzadeh fortifies their stance on Iranian feminism and the powerful role it plays in their country’s culture wars. Considering the current political situation, this show couldn’t be more apt.