A Nation in Miniature - Khashayar Salmanzadeh

KHASHAYAR SALMANZADEH - A Nation in Miniature

For his first solo show, Khashayar Salmanzadeh (b. 2001) presents new oil paintings and a special viewing of an upcoming video project to be shown later in the United Kingdom. The exhibition focuses on the artist’s exploration of the human condition and the push and pull of displacement in the family, both culturally and spiritually.

Born in Shiraz, Iran, Salmanzadeh’s work is rooted in a deep engagement with his personal experiences of diaspora having moved to Australia as a child because of his family’s Bahá’í identity. Growing up as an ‘other’ in both worlds, his practice reflects a hybridised identity of east and west.

The ten artworks on display draw on an archive of family photographs before and after the 1978 Revolution, and ongoing research into the history of Persian miniature painting. By interweaving and distorting the two, Salmanzadeh invites the audience to empathise and meditate on the current condition of the family unit, recognising that the forces that uplift and degrade the family are the same which ultimately affect the nation as a whole.