Farnaz Dehghani
Series 01
These works emerge from the convergence of trauma and repair, shaped by lived experiences of censorship and the systematic erasure of artistic expression. As an Iranian artist whose paintings were left to decay in dark storage for years, migration and bureaucratic alienation reopened these wounds in new forms. Rather than concealing them, I transform them into the structure of the work itself. By stitching directly into the painted surface, I embed rupture and repair into the material language of the canvas.
The thread functions simultaneously as scar, flesh, and memory. At times it recalls the silhouette of the forced hijab; at others it becomes an exposed, living surface. My process unfolds in two stages: an initial psychological landscape is followed by the physical act of sewing, where metaphorical wounds become tangible. Repair, in these works, is never closure but an ongoing process of reconstruction.
People, in their fragile and luminous presence, are her inexhaustible source of inspiration. And each artwork is born in the same way: from a line, from a sketch, from a first gesture that opens the door to an inner world.
From the Wound Oil on canvas 40 × 50 cm · 2026
From the Wound, DetailOil on canvas, stitched thread40 × 50 cm · 2026
From the Wound, DetailOil on canvas, stitched thread40 × 50 cm · 2026
From the WoundOil on canvas, stitched thread40 × 50 cm · 2026
From the Wound, DetailOil on canvas, stitched thread40 × 50 cm · 2026
From the Wound, DetailOil on canvas, stitched thread100 × 50 cm · 2026
From the Wound, DetailOil on canvas, stitched thread40 × 50 cm · 2026
From the WoundOil on canvas, stitched thread40 × 50 cm · 2026
The Silent ScreamOil on canvas, stitched thread80 × 80 cm · 2026
Series 02
This body of works, titled Silent Scream, serves as a continuation of the Wound series. It captures the tension between the stifling order of bureaucracy and the internal turmoil of the individual. Here, the 'wound' is not merely an external injury, but a silent, internal rupture — a scream that remains unheard, buried beneath the manicured hedges of an indifferent system.
In my own small scale, I might be suspected. Am I trapped? Am I curiously looking for something? And you know none of this, because I turned my back on you.
The Silent ScreamOil on canvas, stitched thread30 × 40 cm · 2026
The Silent Scream, DetailOil on canvas, stitched thread80 × 80 cm · 2026
The Silent Scream, DetailOil on canvas, stitched thread80 × 80 cm · 2026
Series 03
The Exploded Book reflects on a childhood shaped by censorship, religious pressure, and gendered expectations in Iran. Constructed from an altered book that can no longer be closed, it transforms personal memory into a fragmented landscape where rupture and repair coexist. Bound with thread yet permanently open, the work suggests that what has been broken cannot return to its original form, but can be continually reassembled.
Composed of 16 modular panels (23 × 23 cm), the work can be displayed either as a continuous landscape or as fragmented, floating sections.
The Exploded BookMixed media, altered book, stitched thread23 × 23 cm · 2026
The Exploded Book, DetailMixed media, altered book, stitched thread23 × 23 cm · 2026
The Exploded Book, DetailMixed media, altered book, stitched thread23 × 23 cm · 2026
The Exploded Book, DetailMixed media, altered book, stitched thread23 × 23 cm · 2026
The Family HomeAcrylic on canvas40 × 50 cm · 2019
Series 04
This series of paintings and black-and-white drawings, created in a variety of media, traces its origins back to the turbulence of my past in Iran.
The Family HomeAcrylic on canvas40 × 50 cm · 2019
The Fifth Day of the WarMixed media with stitched thread100 × 70 cm · 2026
Before the WarMixed media with stitched thread30 × 40 cm · 2019
Series 05
This body of work probes the veil not merely as a garment, but as an imprint on the flesh, the spirit, and the memory. At times, the veil acts as a screen between ourselves and existence, as if truth is destined to never be fully revealed to us. Painting, then, becomes a means to shroud this truth beneath its own form, keeping it sheltered from judgment.
I Velati (The Veiled Ones)Oil on canvas100 × 150 cm · 2017
I Velati (The Veiled Ones)Sketches2017
I Velati (The Veiled Ones)Sketches2017
I Velati (The Veiled Ones)Oil on canvas100 × 70 cm · 2017
I Velati (The Veiled Ones)Oil on canvas100 × 70 cm · 2018
I Velati (The Veiled Ones)Oil on canvas100 × 70 cm · 2017
I Velati (The Veiled Ones)Oil on canvas100 × 70 cm · 2018
In ComaOil on canvas100 × 70 cm · 2016
Series 06
This body of work probes the profound question of human presence in the moment, captured within the crisis of life and death, in sheer absence, or even within the realm of imagination. It navigates a dazed, almost intoxicated human gaze; a perspective of someone who feels detached, as if no longer belonging to this world. It is the gaze of a migrant looking at their own portrait, only to find a stranger staring back.
My Grandmother's RoomOil on canvas100 × 70 cm · 2016
In ComaOil on canvas100 × 70 cm · 2016
The HopeOil on canvas100 × 70 cm · 2016
Series 07
Oil on canvas works exploring identity, presence, and the gaze. Through layered paint and fragmentary portraiture, this series examines what it means to be seen — and what remains unseen — in the act of looking.
she / herOil on canvas50 × 30 cm · 2020
she / herOil on canvas50 × 70 cm · 2020
