Shadi Ghadirian : a retrospective

The show will be a retrospective of Shadi Ghadirian (b.1974, Tehran)  photography from the beginning of her career until her latest photographic works. The exhibition will include the Qajar series, ‘Like Everyday, Be Colourful, Nil, Nil, White Square, Miss Butterfly’. All the collections of the artist have a strong message and all of them to do with women.

These series have had a tremendous reception in Iran and outside. The visualisation of old with the new, the modernity with the tradition. This exhibition is a narrative of socio/polical issues of the Middle Eastern woman specially the women in Iran.

Ghadirian’s photographs epitomize the central dilemma facing Iranian women today: whether to conform to tradition or undertake modernization despite a difficult environment. Yet her work is not only about Iranian women. Ghadirian addresses the issues faced by women around the world—censorship, religious restrictions, the relationship of the individual to the state, and self-fulfillment. Her photographs have been exhibited and recognized on many continents as grasping the challenges experienced by women everywhere.

Since its inception in 1994, Dar Al Funoon has established itself as supporter of Middle Eastern art, aiming to promote the work of contemporary artists from the region and inspire art enthusiasts and audiences.