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persian vintage revisited

persian vintage revisited

In her project "Persian Vintage", Raha Rastifard for several years has strived to portray part of Iran's cultural heritage and artistic treasures. In the new series of prints, which was shown at the Grafiska sällskapet in Stockholm this spring, she works on four different motifs that she develops, repeats and changes throughout the series. The starting point is several different art historical models: abstract, geometric motifs that have historically been used extensively in Persian architecture on more lavish buildings; a way of fragmenting images like a shattered mirror, which was also used in the Persian tradition as well as ancient Persian rugs.

The images that Rastifard has created based on these starting points are corroded, fragmented and mirrored; fragments of a rich and complex history. The images are abstracted and fragmented – present sometimes, sometimes fading, just as the phenomena that they are based on have disappeared and then re-emerged throughout Persian cultural history.

But despite the fragmented and sometimes faded images, they do not lack colour. The series is hand-printed by the artist at the Artists' collective workshop in Stockholm, and Rastifard has combined lithography and serigraphy to create her unusually colourful images. The whole paper is many times covered with one single colour, printed by lithographic means. On top of this, the artist has printed her motif using serigraphy. 

Raha Rastifard is an Iranian-German artist who today resides in Stockholm. Her work ranges from photography to video, drawing, installations and printmaking. It always stems from her personal experiences, and is largely autobiographical. In her highly lyrical art, she creates works full of transcultural, poetic and historical art references. The process often resembles diaries where reality, dreams and fantasies intertwine.

See all works of art by Raha Rastifard