Shadi Rezaei
Bahram Gur Hunting, Accompanied by his Slave Girls , 2021
23ct Gold leaf, Rabbit skin glue and acrylic hand painted miniature on Hahnemühle William Turner paper
45.5 x 28.5
17 7/8 x 11 1/4
17 7/8 x 11 1/4
Edition of 3 plus 2 AP
Copyright The Artist
Further images
A suite of four miniatures taken from the ancient epic poems Shahnameh, or Persian Book of the Kings introduce a further element of subversion. Rezaei has selected illustrations from specific...
A suite of four miniatures taken from the ancient epic poems Shahnameh, or Persian Book of the Kings introduce a further element of subversion. Rezaei has selected illustrations from specific accounts of Iran’s ancient history (at the time areas of modern day Afghanistan fell within the Persian Empire) that are relevant to the current political climate in the middle east. She has manipulated the images, both digitally and by hand, adding and removing elements thus altering the messages of the original works.
“Bahram Gur Hunting, Accompanied by his Slave Girls” depicts Bahram Gur slaying a lion, above him in the clouds he is watched by women in Afghan Burqas. The original miniature depicted the women in traditional dress, jubilantly dancing, singing and playing musical instruments. Rezaei has removed this joyful energy, instead we see subdued eyes and a king (symbol of power) who is oblivious to the new situation. Razaei is also rmaking a direct reference to to Ashraf Ghani (former Afghan president), who fled Afghanistan on the 15th August 2021 when Kabul fell to the Taliban, taking with him with four cars and a helicopter full of US dollars (allegedly embezzled public funds) .
To the left she has added a pink balloon floating off into the sky, symbolic of lost hope and aspirations. In recent months, with the re-capturing of Afghanistan by the Taliban, we have heard promises that women’s freedoms will be protected but sadly, as we have seen before, this is not the case, their cultural, societal and political liberties have been curtailed.
“Bahram Gur Hunting, Accompanied by his Slave Girls” depicts Bahram Gur slaying a lion, above him in the clouds he is watched by women in Afghan Burqas. The original miniature depicted the women in traditional dress, jubilantly dancing, singing and playing musical instruments. Rezaei has removed this joyful energy, instead we see subdued eyes and a king (symbol of power) who is oblivious to the new situation. Razaei is also rmaking a direct reference to to Ashraf Ghani (former Afghan president), who fled Afghanistan on the 15th August 2021 when Kabul fell to the Taliban, taking with him with four cars and a helicopter full of US dollars (allegedly embezzled public funds) .
To the left she has added a pink balloon floating off into the sky, symbolic of lost hope and aspirations. In recent months, with the re-capturing of Afghanistan by the Taliban, we have heard promises that women’s freedoms will be protected but sadly, as we have seen before, this is not the case, their cultural, societal and political liberties have been curtailed.