Mahshid Zahamatkesh is an Iranian artist navigating the search for her identity amidst the pressures of a traditional society and a conservative art educational environment. Despite the challenges, Mahshid is determined to break free from the gender-based roles imposed by her traditional society and find her unique means of expression to articulate the hardships she faces as a woman.
"Since I got married, I felt a sense of liberation, but the fears and wrong beliefs from my family still influenced my life, making me feel like I wasn't truly myself," Mahshid reflects. "Finally, I decided to embrace my true self—free, independent, and guided by my own thoughts." Her work transcends formal and technical practices, resulting in improvisational abstract paintings and installation collections that initially felt like mere exercises. At university, she explored themes such as windows (in her abstract paintings), crumpling and suspended forms (in her photographs), and random bars around figures (in her installations) to transcend limiting forms and reach new expressive heights. She also created an art video depicting a horse imprisoned in a confined space, symbolizing the wild nature constrained by traditional and conservative norms.
Through reading about art, experimenting with different materials and themes, working on scientific papers, and gaining teaching experience, Mahshid has come to better understand herself. Her struggles, particularly as a woman, are reflected in her interest in hatching, etching, and working with materials like fountain pen, chalk pastel, silver pen, and coloured pencil in her drawings. Notably, her use of silver pen evolves over time, becoming darker as it ages.
Women are a central theme in Mahshid's work, as she seeks to express her true self and showcase their pains and potential strength. She believes that women possess immense energy and determination, especially when they strive for independence, free from family control or conservative educational systems.
Mahshid believes she can find her true voice in printmaking, working with techniques such as etching, dry point, monoprint, and linocut, inspired by the films of Tarkovsky. She aims to focus on herself and reflect on society without fear, obstacles, or repression. Through her art, Mahshid seeks to demonstrate the power women can achieve once they choose to act independently, challenging the cliché of dependency and illustrating how women can break free from the old stereotype of weakness to become powerful and self-determined.
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