“O Chimera O Chimera” explores gender and transformation in Iran

The Mine is presenting O Chimera O Chimera, Feathers Whisper, Talons gleam, Mortal Flesh And Mythic scheme a solo presentation by Bita Fayyazi.

Bita Fayyazi, Untitled 14 (O Chimera O Chimera), Ceramic, 25 x 22 x 19 cm, 2024. Courtesy Alserkal.

In the ongoing rupture of Iran’s social and political landscape, the framing of gender has acquired renewed urgency – demanding not only visibility, but reinvention. Bita Fayyazi has long operated within this space of tension and transformation. Her sculptures, often imbued with a dramatic, theatrical presence, do not simply capture the female form – they wrestle with it. Through her interventions, the body becomes a site of resistance, a vessel for resilience, and a move toward metamorphosis.

Fayyazi’s practice does not rest solely on the human. Her forms often slip into the hybrid creatures that blur the lines between species, between myth and material. Totemic and uncanny, these beings echo the intimacy of our everyday entanglement with the animal world, even as they challenge our definitions of what it means to be human. In these amalgamated bodies, Fayyazi creates a charged terrain where personal and collective memory coalesce, where the fantastic becomes a way of reimagining the real. Her work insists on the porousness of boundaries – between gender, form, self, and the world.

Bita Fayyazi is more than a sculptor, ceramicist, or installation artist – her practice is performative, socially attuned, and grounded in an almost mystic dialogue with material and context. Fayyazi is regarded as one of the most progressive and influential contemporary artists to have emerged from Tehran in recent times. Considered a key supporter and patron of the new wave of Iranian artists, she has collaborated with key figures including Rokni Haerizadeh. She also often collaborates with artists and individuals outside the traditional art world, rechanneling collective energy toward open-ended, often unpredictable outcomes. In embracing these exchanges, Fayyazi explores the transformative potential of shared creativity – cultivating connection, challenging authorship, and expanding the boundaries of artistic practice.

Bita Fayyazi was part of the vanguard of post-revolutionary Iranian artists to gain visibility in the West. Her work is held in major international collections, including La Fabrica (Benetton Group Communication Centre) in Italy and the Simon de Pury Collection in Geneva. In 2005, she was one of only two female artists selected to represent Iran at the 51st Venice Biennale. Fayyazi’s practice has been showcased in leading institutions such as the Fondation Louis Vuitton (Paris), the Museum of Modern Art (Freiburg), the Pergamon, Museum (Berlin), and the Bonnefantenmuseum (Maastricht, Amsterdam). She currently lives and works in Tehran.

O Chimera O Chimera is now on view at The Mine: Alserkal Avenue, Warehouse 46, Dubai.

The exhibition runs until April 21.

Via Alserkal and Artdaily