Iranian artist strips away mass media's illusion of reality
Maryam Najd’s monochromes and paintings, on show at Groeningemuseum in Bruges, tackle themes that dominate today’s headlines, including the plight of refugees
Unmasking the media
Najd left Teheran in 1991 for Belgium, where she studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp and the Higher Institute for Fine Arts in Ghent. Her solo show, part of the Bruges artist-in-residence programme, is a visual reflection of Sepehri’s influential book of poems, Hasht Ketab (Eight Books), with a striking take on themes that dominate today’s headlines.
As before, combining her own experience of reality with the observation of “reality” through social and mass media, she researches the anecdotal strength of the image and its supposed message. In “Mediterranean Blanket 1” (pictured), a body is covered by a glittering thermal blanket. Tourists pass by in the distance, oblivious to a truth they do not want to know.
Her artistic process is a reflection of her mastery of the ancient Persian art of miniature painting: She removes media images from their original context and transforms a documentary representation into both a poetic and a political statement.
“Mediterranean Blanket 1” is opposite “Lord Byron on His Deathbed” by 19th-century Flemish painter Joseph Denis Odevaere, while the oil painting “Contemplation” appears to be conversing with George Minne’s sculpture “Three Holy Women by the Grave”, exploring the tiny, but meaningful difference between grief and meditation.
Until 2 October, Groeningemuseum, Bruges
