Exhibitions, previews & reviews
Khosrow Hassanzadeh – Faheshe
Scream Gallery 04 March – 04 April 2009
Written by: Louise Hall

Khosrow Hassanzadeh’s latest show ‘Faheshe’ (‘Prostitutes’) at London’s Scream gallery is as breathtaking as you might expect from this politically confrontational leading contemporary Iranian artist. Typically, Khosrow doesn’t disappoint.
A homage to the Iranian working girls murdered at the hands of an evil serial killer in the north-eastern Iranian holy city of Mashad, in the summer of 2001, this 16 large-scale portrait series works on all sorts of different levels.
Deeply powerful, it shudders you out of any personal comfort zone you might have had. By confronting, jarring and engaging the viewer so, Khosrow invites you to reflect on circumstances surrounding these women’s lives – and deaths.
In April 2002, the killer, Saeed Hanaie, 40, a local builder, was himself hanged for his crimes following a high-profile public trial. The self-confessed moral avenger claimed that when his wife had been mistaken for a prostitute he’d taken it upon himself to cleanse the city. “I wanted to clean the holy city of Mashhad from corrupt women and prostitutes,” he said, adding that killing these women was akin to stepping on cockroaches.
People were shocked at his actions and words but many religious defenders believed his claim that he was carrying out God’s will and a public outcry ensued in Iran over the extent of rising prostitution in their holiest city. However, the irony of his words became clear when his semen was discovered in most of his victims.
Produced the same year, Khosrow took as his starting point the tiny black and white police mug shots of the women published in Iranian newspapers. Blowing them up to much-larger-than-life-size he overlays the dark, inky silkscreen-print-on-paper images with thick brush strokes of bright acrylic.
Repetitive imagery is one of his trademarks and here he uses it to strong effect. In one a woman’s face enshrouded in her headscarf (all the women were strangled by their own headscarves) is repeated, the same image over and over; sometimes it’s cut down so that you only see her eyes, or half her face, but always her eyes look out: that’s 46 motionless eyes staring out at you from the blank gallery wall, in one work alone.
It’s as if the women are challenging you, the viewer, not to look away. And when you do, you feel their eyes burrowing into your back and are drawn to look back. Each work seems to be saying, ‘Don’t forget me.’
Which is exactly the point. “I wanted each portrait to be so bold that no one could turn away from it,” Khosrow says.
His face-slap technique works; it shines the political spotlight on both the plight of these vulnerable young women and female rights’ in Iran today.
Not being given equal rights to work and struggling to survive in a worsening economy, single women are being forced onto the street to support their families. As one newspaper reported, ‘Forced into a line of work they did not want to undertake ultimately led to their deaths by a self-appointed moral avenger.’
It’s to Khosrow’s credit that today, seven years later, these issues are finally seeping into Western consciousness.
Hauntingly beautiful, this exhibition will stay with you long after you walk away. These women will not be forgotten, nor their lives lived in vain; Faheshe brands their mark on your soul.
Faheshe by Khosrow Hassanzadeh, Scream Gallery, 34 Bruton Street, London, W1J 6QX. Tel: 020 7493 7388

Biographies of short-listed artists and designers:

Hamra Abbas

Hamra Abbas (b. Kuwait) lives between Pakistan and the US. Abbas graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and MA in Visual Arts from the National College of Arts, Lahore before receiving Meisterschueler from the Universitaet der Kuenste in Berlin in 2004. Abbas has shown in numerous international solo exhibitions including New Works by Hamra Abbas, Green Cardamom, London (2008); and God Grows on Trees, Galerie Michael Schultz, Berlin (2008). Her work was included in the Guangzhou Triennial (2008); the 10th Istanbul Biennial (2007); the Biennale of Sydney (2006), and the Cetinje Biennial (2004).
Other group shows include Shake Before Use, ARTIUM, Vittoria, Spain (2008); Loop, Video Art Fair, Barcelona (2007); Beyond the Page, Asia House, London (2006); Zeitsprünge Raumfolgen, ifa Gallery, Berlin (2005); and Bueno Ensemble, The Arc Gallery, Chicago (2005). She has been awarded residencies and scholarships by institutions such as Art Omi, New York; Vermont Studio Center, USA; The Triangle Arts Trust, New York; and DAAD, Germany. Abbas’ work uses a range of media and often takes a playful look towards widely accepted traditions. Please do not step 3 will be a continuation of Abbas’ signature work utilising Islamic geometrical patterns, an integral feature of Islamic civilisation.

Reza Abedini

Reza Abedini (b. 1967 Tehran, Iran) lives and works between Iran and the Netherlands. After graduating in graphic design from the School of Fine Arts in 1985, he completed a BA in Painting at Tehran Art University in 1992. Since 1989 he has pursued a career as a graphic designer, founding the Reza Abedini Studio in 1993. Abedini has shown in numerous exhibitions in Iran and Europe including Persiannalite, Anatome Gallery, Paris (2008); Wordless at Mirak Gallery, Iran (2007); and Ween Schrift Bild Wird, Ifa Gallery, Stuttgart (2007). His solo shows include Posteram, De Affiche Galeriji, The Hague (2008); and Visual Language of Reza Abedini, Platform 21, Amsterdam (2006). His work has featured in books on design and visual culture in Iran and he has curated poster exhibitions at home and abroad. His work is in public collections including Musee de la Publicite, Paris; Mimar Sinan University Museum, Istanbul; Wilanowie Poster Museum, Warsaw; Ogaki Poster Museum, Japan; Dans Plakat Museum, Copenhagen; Essen Poster Museum, Germany. He has received many international awards including a Prince Claus Award in 2006. Abedini is a graphic artist creating work that contains many historical references such as the way in which he surrounds a single figure with empty space, which harks back to portrait painting and photographs from the Qajar period.

Afruz Amighi

Afruz Amighi (b. 1974 Tehran, Iran) lives and works in New York. Afruz Amighi received a BA in Political Science at Barnard College and a Master of Fine Arts from New York University in 2007. She has completed a residency program at the School of Visual Arts in New York and was selected for the Aljira Center for Contemporary Art Emerge Program in collaboration with Creative Capital (2006). Group shows include Just a Ghostly Paper Sigh, 31 Grand Gallery, New York (2007); Please Touch, G.A.S.P. Gallery Boston, Massachusetts (2006); and Young Americans, Charlotte and Philip Hanes Art Gallery, Wake Forest University, Winston Salem, North Carolina (2005). She is currently working on a solo exhibition at Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York (opening spring 2009). Amighi’s work explores the often-tumultuous social and political history of Iran. Highlighting her own absence from the people and events that shaped these accounts, she casts a unique perspective of modern Iran. Her work references the architecture, myths and religion of present-day Tehran together with textures taken from Persian carpets, beaded curtains and prayer beads.

Sevan Biçakçi

Sevan Biçakçi (b. 1972, Istanbul) creates jewellery inspired by the Byzantine and Ottoman history and architecture that surrounded him whilst growing up in a district called Samatya near the Grand Bazaar, Istanbul. At the age of 12 Biçakçi had an apprenticeship at the goldsmith master Hovsep Catak’s workshop in the Grand Bazaar where he learned from more than 500 years of traditional jewellery making. In 1990 he set up his own jewellery workshop and for almost 10 years served larger jewellery manufacturers as a freelance model maker. His first personal collection came out in 2002 and since then his unique work, which requires meticulous craftsmanship, has been the focus of attention of collectors throughout the world. Biçakçi is a three times winner of the prestigious Town & Country Award in the gemstone category in 2006, 2007 and 2008. In 2007 he was selected by The Tanzanite Foundation as one of the five most successful independent jewellery designers. In 2007 he won the Turkish Patent Institute’s Golden Designer Award. He has pioneered techniques such as metal-based painting, engraving, calligraphy, intaglio carving and micro-mosaic setting.

Hassan Hajjaj

Hassan Hajjaj (b. 1961, Morocco) lives and works in London and Morocco. Hajjaj has shown at numerous exhibitions and events including Salon Afrique, Royal Festival Hall, London (2005); Fashion in Motion, V&A, London (2005); Africa Remix, Hayward Gallery, London (2005); Contemporary African Visual Arts, British Museum, London (2005) and Graffix from the Souk, Dar Sharifa Gallery, Marrakech (2003) and has had solo shows at Leighton House Museum, London (2008) and The Third Line, Dubai (2007). His Moroccan roots are of great importance and influence in his work and enable him to contrast visual elements of both Arabic and European culture. His work evolved amid the emerging club culture of London, absorbing the music and styles of reggae, hip-hop and world music. After running

clubs and managing up-and-coming bands, he decided in 1984 to launch his own clothing and accessories label RAP. From his shop in Covent Garden, Hajjaj explored customised branded fabric and designed accessories, T-shirts, album covers and restaurant interiors. His installations utilise a wide range of media including photography, recycled materials and household items.

Khosrow Hassanzadeh

Khosrow Hassanzadeh (b.1963, Iran) lives and works in Tehran. Returning from the Iran- Iraq war, Hassanzadeh studied at the Faculty of Painting, Mojtama-e-Honar University, Tehran (1989-91) and later trained with his mentor, Iranian artist Aydeen Aghdashlou while studying at the Faculty of Persian Literature (1996-8). Hassanzadeh has shown in numerous exhibitions throughout Europe and the Middle East. Over 15 solo shows at venues including B21, Dubai (2008); Silk Road Gallery, Tehran (2007); French Cultural Centre, Damascus (2007); Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam (2006); and Diorama Arts Centre, London (1999). Group shows include Word into Art, British Museum (2006); West by East, CCCB, Barcelona (2005); Far Near Distance, Haus der Kulturen, Berlin (2004); New Art, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art (2002); and Iranian Contemporary Art, The Barbican, London (2001). His works are in public collections including The British Museum, KIT Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam, The Tehran Museum for Contemporary Art, and the World Bank in Washington D.C. Hassanzadeh’s work combines art and poetry and many of his paintings and drawings can be seen as visual diaries incorporating his own writings, family, self-portraits and his experience of war. His paintings often deal with issues considered sensitive in Iranian society and he is frequently cited as a ‘political’ artist, although he continues to explore sociological themes particular to Iran’s hyper-gendered urban landscape. He has been the subject of several documentaries by the BBC and Arte.

Susan Hefuna

Susan Hefuna (b. Germany) lives and works in Germany and Egypt. Hefuna has shown in numerous exhibitions throughout Europe, the Middle East, South Africa and the USA, including the Sharjah Biennial (2007); the Louvre, Paris (2004); the Seville Biennial (2008); and Venice Biennale (2009). Recent solo exhibitions include Albion Gallery, New York and London (2008); ACAF Alexandria (2008); Third Line Gallery, Dubai (2008); and Townhouse Gallery, Cairo (2007). Her work is in public collections including the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris; Group Lhoist, Brussels; British Museum, London; Sharjah Art Museum, UAE; V&A, London; Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris; DIFC, Dubai; and Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart.
She won the International Award at the Cairo Biennial 1998. Much of Hefuna’s work is inspired by the beauty, structure and atmosphere of mashrabiyyahs (latticed woodwork) in Cairo. Inscribed with faintly visible words of ‘ANA’ (‘I’ in Arabic), ‘U’ and ‘ENTA’ (‘You’ in Arabic), combined with the Christian and Islamic year 2008/1429, the mashrabiyyah screens intervene between observer and the observed and reflect her personal experience of the ‘in between-ness’ of being in two cultures at the same time.

Seher Shah

Seher Shah (b. 1975, Karachi, Pakistan) grew up in Belgium, the UK and New York where she currently lives and works. She received her Bachelor of Fine Arts and Architecture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1998. Shah has shown in numerous international exhibitions including 21: Selections of Contemporary Art, Brooklyn Museum, New York (2008); FIAC, Grand Palais and the Louvre, Paris (2008); Zeichnungen, Basel, Switzerland (2007); and Generation 1.5, Queens Museum of Art, New York (2007). Her work is in public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York (part of the 21st-century acquisitions); Brooklyn Museum, USA; Queens Museum of Art, USA; Museum of Contemporary Art, Schauffhausen, Switzerland; Deutsche Bank Art Contemporary and the Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary Foundation, Austria. She was voted by Frieze Magazine as one of 2007’s most significant emerging artists. Seher’s work permeates many rich sources of influence ranging from analysis of a variety of historical architectural spaces, visual plays on perspective, aesthetics of modernism to the fantastical landscapes of science fiction and its power of transformation. Parallels can be made to ornamental arts and the use of Islamic geometries and patterns, as well as more contemporary practice such as animation and graffiti.

Camille Zakharia

Camille Zakharia (b. 1962, Lebanon) lives and works in Bahrain. He graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Nova Scotia College of Arts and Design, Halifax, Canada in 1997. Zakharia has shown in numerous exhibitions and his solo shows include Double Vue, Centre Cultural Franco Bahreinien, Maison Jamsheer, Muharraq Bahrain (2008); Division Lines, Art Gallery, St Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada (2006); and Elusive Homelands, VCU Gallery, Doha (2006). His group shows include Sharjah Biennial 8, Sharjah Art Museum, UAE (2007); The Lands Within Me, Canadian Museum of Civilisation, Hull, Canada (2001-2003); and Far and Wide 3, Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, Canada (1998- 1999). He has been awarded many photography prizes. Zakharia uses his camera to document the journey that he has taken since his departure from Lebanon in 1985, in the wake of the civil war. He is known for his meticulously constructed photo-montages, collages and black and white prints which explore segments of his daily life. His work reflects on broader issues relating to the notions of home, identity and belonging in the context of a global world.

Summary exhibition Iranian artist Khosrow Hassanzadeh

SEPTEMBER 2006 –

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 enabled fruit seller Khosrow Hassanzadeh to become an artist: the chaos created new opportunities. His compelling work, created since the 1980s, contains elements from the art of Japanese prints, the French Nabis artists, art nouveau and Andy Warhol.

Summary exhibition Iranian artist Khosrow Hassanzadeh

SEPTEMBER 2006 –

The Islamic Revolution of 1979 enabled fruit seller Khosrow Hassanzadeh (1953) to become an artist: the chaos created new opportunities. His compelling work, created since the 1980s, contains elements from the art of Japanese prints, the French Nabis artists, art nouveau and Andy Warhol. Hassanzadeh’s use of colour and black-and-white is exactly the opposite of what is commonly seen in Iran. War scenes are customarily colourful; chadors are black. Hassanzadeh makes his own choices in terms of content, often meaning that his work can only be seen outside of Iran.

With its Inside Iran exposition, the Tropenmuseum displays series with harsh titles, such as War, Prostitutes and Terrorist. Hassanzadeh made the sixteen enormous portraits of prostitutes in response to a series of murders by a religious fanatic. Because the media devoted so little attention to the murders, he decided to make a tribute to the victims. The title Terrorist appears to be randomly attached to a series of colourful family portraits in which each subject is profiled as if s/he were a terrorist.

Is he a political messenger? “No. My work is a response to the world, to life and to man. I have only one idea about art and artistry: first be honest with yourself. Only then can I try to make people happier by allowing them to see the world through new eyes.”

Hassanzadeh connects the West and the Orient. He has surprised his home country with Western shapes, techniques and concepts. His work is included in prestigious Western collections. Six years after his first European exposition (1999, London), he wrote Modern Orientalism. “My article was intended to warn Western intellectuals of a lazy type of modern Orientalism.” Khosrow Hassanzadeh bounces the ball right back, giving readers a chance to determine what type of Orientalist they are.

Daphne Pappers

The exhibition Inside Iran by Khosrow Hassanzadeh is on display from 22 September through 7 January 2007 in the Tropenmuseum in Amsterdam.

Faneshe / Prostitutes, 2002
Painting on silk-screen print

Police file photos of prostitutes that were published in the daily papers and served a serial killer, a self-declared “avenger” who had murdered a number of women, as orientation in the choice of his victims* url | IntArtData Artists

~*Isn’t this an odd way to describe a killer’s ‘mo’? I’m guessing the killer after his arrest was found to have newspaper clippings of prostitutes pasted on his wall, or in a scrapbook…like some kind of anti-porn. Maybe he was schizophrenic and/or confessed that his newspaper photos “talked” to him. 
In American tv crime dramas the scene of the stalker’s room complete with a shrine of photos of his imagined sweetheart is a cliche. Yeah we get it; he’s a dangerously obsessed fan, spurned boy-friend or pervert. But I don’t think the script-writers are suggesting that without those disturbing photos he’ld be any less of a stalker. 
In American crime fiction photo-obsessions confirm everyone’s suspicions, they’re not seen as instrumental in the commission of crimes. (Except for images of children of course.)
Many men have porn stashes. Some collect very specific sorts of images. Most men are not violent towards the objects of their obsessions.

Khosrow Hassanzadeh

Born 1963 in Iran he studied painting at the University in Tehran. From 1991 he has participated in many solo and group exhibitions both in Iran and abroad, amongst which are: Terrorist, Silk Road Gallery in Tehran, Pahlavan, Janine Rubeiz Gallery in Beirut, Abortion, an installation with Bita Fayyazi at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Life, War & Art, Diorama Art Gallery in London, Word into Art : Artists of the Modern Middle East at The British Museum, London, Musulmanes, musulmans, un monde fait de tous les mondes, La Villette, Paris, Far Near Distance, Contemporary Iranian Artists, Berlin, Haft ,Ville de Boulogne – Billancourt Museum, France, Iranian Contemporary Art at Christie’s, London and Iranian Contemporary Art at the Barbican Center, London.

His works are in both private and public collections : British Museum, London, World Bank,Washington DC, USA and the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Arts.

Another major artist on the Iranian scene is Khorsrow Hassanzadeh, a former revolutionary guard who took part in the war against Iraq. His multi-layered, mixed media works blend photography, collage, and paint, and have already been shown at numerous international exhibitions. Like Men, in gouache on gold paper and collage (est. €4,100-5,000), they recompose Iranian reality as a diary of the artist’s life, and exude a humane, poetic feel.