Artist Profile
Faezeh Zandieh
Iran
Status: Relocated
The first time Faezeh Zandieh witnessed people protesting on the streets of Tehran was at the age of fifteen. In 2009 and 2010, nearly three million Iranians joined the peaceful demonstrations, later known as The Green Movement, to demand the removal of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from office after what was regarded as a fraudulent election. “If I were to describe it personally, these changes had a significant impact on my life and the way I viewed the world,” Faezeh shared in an interview with ARC.
In adolescence Faezeh also began to observe and question her place in society as a woman. She was angered by the way women were mandated to wear the hijab, while men were not. Due to Islamic dress codes established in 1979, Faezeh was obligated to begin wearing the hijab at the age of nine. If she did not do so, she and any other woman who disobeyed the dress code were subjected to surveillance and arrest by Iran’s Morality Police.
Reflecting on her girlhood, Faezeh says she felt repressed by having to wear the hijab. Faced with the censorship of the feminine body, she had a desire to redefine herself. With each passing year, the fracture between men and women in Iranian society seemed to widen irreparably. The question of gender, censorship, and identity would continue to preoccupy Faezeh and would eventually play a critical role in her artistic work. The same themes would also become central to the Women, Life, Freedom movement.
Exploring Masculinity and Violence in Art
While studying architecture at university, Faezeh quickly realized that despite sketching projects, she had no interest in the logistical aspects of the field. It became clear the visual arts was her calling and after graduation, Faezeh embarked on an adventurous journey in painting. She enrolled in art classes with the Iranian-American artist Bobak Etminani and began learning how to work with forms and color. She fell in love with handmade printmaking.
Early on in her artistic career Faezeh witnessed a scene that would inspire her to center human figures in her drawings and paintings. In 2020, on her way back home from her artist studio in Tehran, Faezeh witnessed a confrontation between men on the street that ended in violence. “The interplay of forces and emotions between bodies captured my attention,” Faezeh relayed of the incident.
The fight prompted Faezeh to begin exploring masculinity in her print-making and painting, specifically focusing on Iran’s patriarchal culture and the societal forces that push men toward violence. As she was questioning these themes in her art, individuals began to question them on the streets. On September 16, 2022 a 22-year old woman named Masha (Gina) Amini died in Tehran after being arrested and detained by Iran’s morality police for not wearing a hijab.
Amini’s death triggered mass protests in Iran and around the world calling for Women, Life, and Freedom. The Iranian government has cracked down on protestors, arresting participants and sentencing dozens of dissidents to death. This crackdown has led to aggressive censorship, targeting free speech and artistic expression. Faezeh – and her artistic voice – was directly impacted by these measures. A gallery hosting an exhibition of her work in Iran was shut down by Iranian intelligence authorities. After this incident, she continued to create art, but with more trepidation than before.
The Uncensored Self
“In my own country, we were fighting for even the most basic citizen rights. But here, I was accepted as an artist from the moment I arrived,” shares Faezeh on her experience as a working artist in France.
For an artist working primarily with the body, understanding the human figure is crucial to Faezeh’s work. Now in France, Faezeh’s representation of bodies has evolved, moving towards a more intuitive approach. She is now leaning into the representations of nude male bodies, and has begun to introduce women’s bodies into her art.
“I realized that I was unconsciously censoring myself. This was the impact of the lack of freedom of expression in me. I basically didn't know myself, especially my own body,” Faezeh explains.
In October 2023 Faezeh’s first solo exhibition opened at the Salahin Gallery in Paris. “Passages'' is an exhibition that builds upon her previous explorations of the masculine world. The majority of the paintings in “Passages” depict nude men engaged in physical altercations. The end result is an array of arresting images depicting the intertwining of muscles and limbs.
Faezeh says of this theme, “The conflicts between bodies are somewhat masculine for me, although these conflicts are not just about violence; they represent a search for identity, a kind of bewilderment in a timeless and placeless world.”
While there is certainly anger palpable on the faces of the men locked in fights, they also appear to be confused, lonely, and filled with despair.
Finding Artistic Freedom Abroad
In 2022, Faezeh was the winner of an open call in the field of manual printing making organized by the French Embassy in Iran and the Emrooz gallery in Tehran. She was awarded a three-week long artist residency at the URDLA in Lyon, France. During her residency, Faezeh learned about lithography, a kind of printmaking she had never tried before. At the URDLA Gallery, she crafted five stone lithographs which are currently in the National Library of France. Towards the end of her residency at URDLA, the Bullukian Foundation decided to extend Faezeh’s artist residency in Lyon, providing her with a studio space at GrandLarge for one year to create new artwork.
The URLDA residency has been a time of both immense creative and professional growth. Faezeh has deepened her knowledge of both painting and printmaking, even combining the techniques in her art. Her brushstrokes are raised, creating grooves and texture in her work.
Faezeh currently resides in Lyon on a one-year talent visa. While she is grateful for the opportunity to live abroad, she admires artists who remain in Iran nurturing their creativity and art, despite the challenges. Though she does not know what her future holds, Faezeh is certain about her path as an artist.
Rose Bialer, November 30, 2023. Rose is the Post-Grad/Gap-Year Fellow at ARC. She previously worked as ARC’s International Programs Intern. She holds a BA in Sociology and Spanish from Kenyon College and an MPhil. in Comparative Literature from Trinity College Dublin. She lives in Barcelona, Spain.