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| "Black Trace 3" by Sadegh Khalife. Courtesy The Post and Courier |
Two Charleston galleries are teaming up to spotlight contemporary artists in Iran whose work rarely reaches international audiences.
“Voices from the Middle East,” presented by The George Gallery and Peter Anthony Fine Art in partnership with California nonprofit Parisa Projects, will bring paintings, sculpture and mixed-media pieces to both galleries for viewing Oct. 2-30.
An opening reception will take place simultaneously at both galleries from 5-7 p.m. Oct. 2. The abstract works in “Voices from the Middle East” will be shown at The George Gallery located at 54 Broad St., and the representational works can be viewed at Peter Anthony Fine Art located nearby at 15 Broad St.
The exhibition explores the personal experiences, resilience and creativity of 15 artists working amid political conflict, economic uncertainty and limited access to the global art world.
With the U.S. currently at war with Iran, this show underlines the universal need artists have to produce meaningful work and interpret what's going on around them, said Anne Siegfried, who owns George Gallery and Peter Anthony Fine Art Gallery.
“It's a very big planet, but it’s also kind of a small world,” Siegfried said. “People in all corners of the earth have the same need to create and express themselves.”
Getting a message through
Although the global narrative feels intensely divided and polarized right now, said Parisa Projects founder Parisa Majidy, art has a way of cutting through the political noise to speak to people directly.
“Sharing these perspectives right now is about keeping our shared humanity front and center,” Majidy told The Post and Courier. “On top of that, daily life is incredibly tough for artists trying to build a career in a region struggling economically. Giving them global visibility and tangible support right now is essential.”
Since its founding in 2019, Parisa Projects connects Middle Eastern contemporary artists with worldwide audiences through exhibitions, educational programs and art sales while helping provide financial resources and professional opportunities.
This is a challenging endeavor as Iran enforces severe limitations on communication to the outside world through near-total internet blackouts, strict digital censorship and penalties for contacting foreign media outlets.
That's why these artists couldn't conduct interviews with The Post and Courier.
Bringing their artworks stateside is one way to get a message through, and Charleston feels like a particularly special city in which to do this, Majidy said.
“The city has a vibrant, growing arts community that values good storytelling,” she said. “We felt there was a real hunger here for international perspectives that don't always make it to the Southeast, making it a great home for an exhibition focused on real dialogue.”
Featured artists
The 15 artists on display are tackling a variety of subjects with rich social commentary, Majidy said. Themes include unpacking masculinity, exploring the friction between humanity and industry, reimagining the female body and calling out environmental damage.
“These are thoughtful, sophisticated artists using their practice to claim their own narratives,” she added.
Born in Zahedan, Iran, featured artist Ayda Roozbayani grew up near the Southern coast and industrial oil hubs, which shaped her focus on human vulnerability and solitude.
Her figurative paintings blend realism with dreamlike settings, using oil, acrylic and collage to transform photographs of Iranian landscapes into timeless scenes. In works like "The Suburb 9," which will be featured in the show, water often separates her figures, reflecting themes of isolation and emotional distance.
Self-taught painter Sadegh Khalife, based in Shushtar, Iran, draws heavily on his 17 years working in the industrial sector. His paintings combine machinery, industrial forms and hybrid structures with imagery rooted in the collective memory of his community.
His work, like the featured piece "Black Trace 3," reflects the environmental and social effects of rapid industrialization and war, often depicting a tense interplay between human-made machinery and the natural world.
Mahdieh Abolhasan, who lives in Tehran, Iran, both draws and sculpts, often layering and carving dense sheets of cardboard to create intricate forms and hidden structures.
Her process of building, cutting and revealing explores destruction, survival and resilience. Her drawings, like featured work "Pillage," similarly play with layering and depth, giving a two-dimensional medium a tactile, dimensional quality.
Transcending borders
Parisa Projects aims to be a bridge between Middle Eastern artists and far-flung audiences. Shows like “Voices from the Middle East” come from years of building personal relationships with artists seeking a platform and connecting them with international collectors.
After the organization connected with The George Gallery team at Expo Chicago last spring, the collaborative project was born.
The artists represented by Parisa Projects deal with internet blackouts and restricted platforms, relying completely on local networks, Majidy said, and bringing the show to the U.S. was a slow, delicate process.
“We had to move pieces out in small shipments over months, relying on local couriers and single contacts who happened to have stable connections,” she said. “It slowed everything down, but getting these vital voices out to the world made every hurdle worth it.”
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