Secrets Between Her and Her Shadow 10

2019 - Painting (Painting)

76.2 x 61 cm

Maryam Hoseini

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Secrets Between Her and Her Shadow 10 by Maryam Hoseini is from a series of paintings of the same title that are inspired by the story Layla and Majnun – an Arabic love story about Majnun, a 7th century Bedouin poet, and his lover, Layla. Hoseini’s compositions are visually inspired by the illustrations accompanying the Khamsa of Nizami , a manuscript of five poems, including Layla and Majnun , produced by the Persian poet Nizami in the 1590s. Unlike the original tale, Hoseini’s paintings focus entirely on Layla, any male characters are purposefully erased from this narrative. In this particular painting Hoseini depicts three contorted female bodies against a vibrant blue background. The figures are represented geometrically, interacting with each other as if their bodies are architectural. Even though they are presented fractured and with no heads, the figures maintain a feminine sensibility reminiscent of synchronized swimmers. The artist seeks to enhance the significance of the body by presenting geometric figures stacked in multiple positions, symbolizing body-trauma and violence, as well as pleasure or erotic drama. Reflecting on the Middle East’s social structures and gender politics, she puts focus on gender division. The female figures are presented nude, unrealistically flattened and fragmented, with disembodied limbs covered in hair; their bodies echo one another, evoking a sense of intimate socializing between women.

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Maryam Hoseini makes delicate, figurative paintings to investigate the political, social, and personal conditions of identity and gender. Her work reflects on her personal experiences in Iran as she re-examines both the country’s iconic architecture and landscape, and its homosocial atmosphere, where women customarily socialize exclusively with their own gender. Often featuring fragmented and flat planes of bodies that collapse with architectural environments, Hoseini’s paintings explore the concept of ruins and fragmentation in politicized and social spaces. Fascinated by mythology, Hoseini draws inspiration from ancient times, as well as from modern ones, such as surrealist art, comic book images. and horror-comedy films popular in the 70s-90s. The techniques employed with her smaller paintings recall the legacy Persian miniatures.

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Colors:

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• identity.n.01
• gender.n.01
• woman.n.01
• body.n.01
• violence.n.01
• sex.n.04