FARAHD AHRARNIA: CANARY IN A COAL MINE

contemporary artist Farhad Ahrarnia draws inspiration from his upbringing in Iran to comment on inter-cultural misunderstanding, media manipulation, and the ongoing tug-of-war between modernity and tradition. His multi-layered works resonate with symbolism and can be interpreted a multitude of ways, but the warmth, wit, vibrant colours and unsettling tension of loose threads and needles leave an immediate and lasting impression.

farhad ahrarnia

In his sculptures and embroidered digital prints on canvas,

edited by rose issa beyond art production

£ 15.00

farhad ahrarnia

canary in a coal mine Edited by Rose Issa

Front cover: Balllet Pars V, 160 X 123 CM, 2011 All works featured in this publication are digital photography on canvas with embroidery and needles unless otherwise stated.

contents EYE OF THE NEEDLE 4

by Rose Issa

Touching Seeing: Farhad Ahrarnia’s 10 US Soldiers and War Photography

by Pippa Oldfield

US Soldiers 14 Beautiful is the Silence of Ruins 20 ISBN: 978-0-9570213-1-0 First published by Beyond Art Production in 2011 Copyright © All images, Farhad Ahrarnia, 2011 Copyright © All texts, Rose Issa & authors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A full cip record for this book is available from the British Library Design: normal industries Copy: Katia Hadidian Production: Francesca Ricci Rose Issa Projects and Farhad Ahrarnia would like to thank Lili AhrarniaNamazi; the British Museum, London; the Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford; Christopher de Bellaigue; Pippa Oldfield; Lutz Becker; Sara Raza; Omar Mazhar; Katia Hadidian; Francesca Ricci; Tracey Friend; the photographer Heini Schneebeli; and Petra Kottmair and Jonathan Wood for their invaluable contribution.

Death in America 30 Mr. Singer 36 Miss Iraq 40 Digging up the past 46

by Christopher de Bellaigue

The Dig 48 The Bradford series 54 DustpanS of History 58 a Stitch in time 64 stitched 70

by Lutz Becker

portraits 74 Ballet Pars 90 Farhad Ahrarnia: the Epic of the Eye 96

by Sara Raza

Transrational Poetry 100 Microphones 106 Something in the Air 114

www.roseissa.com 2

Biography & Bibliography 118 3

Front cover: Balllet Pars V, 160 X 123 CM, 2011 All works featured in this publication are digital photography on canvas with embroidery and needles unless otherwise stated.

contents EYE OF THE NEEDLE 4

by Rose Issa

Touching Seeing: Farhad Ahrarnia’s 10 US Soldiers and War Photography

by Pippa Oldfield

US Soldiers 14 Beautiful is the Silence of Ruins 20 ISBN: 978-0-9570213-1-0 First published by Beyond Art Production in 2011 Copyright © All images, Farhad Ahrarnia, 2011 Copyright © All texts, Rose Issa & authors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A full cip record for this book is available from the British Library Design: normal industries Copy: Katia Hadidian Production: Francesca Ricci Rose Issa Projects and Farhad Ahrarnia would like to thank Lili AhrarniaNamazi; the British Museum, London; the Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford; Christopher de Bellaigue; Pippa Oldfield; Lutz Becker; Sara Raza; Omar Mazhar; Katia Hadidian; Francesca Ricci; Tracey Friend; the photographer Heini Schneebeli; and Petra Kottmair and Jonathan Wood for their invaluable contribution.

Death in America 30 Mr. Singer 36 Miss Iraq 40 Digging up the past 46

by Christopher de Bellaigue

The Dig 48 The Bradford series 54 DustpanS of History 58 a Stitch in time 64 stitched 70

by Lutz Becker

portraits 74 Ballet Pars 90 Farhad Ahrarnia: the Epic of the Eye 96

by Sara Raza

Transrational Poetry 100 Microphones 106 Something in the Air 114

www.roseissa.com 2

Biography & Bibliography 118 3

EYE OF THE NEEDLE

By Rose issa

Until the 1980s, British coal miners would take a caged canary with them underground. Because the bird sings most of the time, if the oxygen level dropped or any dangerous gases escaped, its silence meant its death, and was an early warning system. The phrase ‘canary in a coal mine’ refers to someone who can detect signs of trouble and danger – someone whose sensitivity makes them vulnerable. The sentiment is an appropriate title for Farhad Ahrarnia’s work: the idea of the caged canary, singing in the depths of the ground, while shovels unearth treasure, digging into the fabric of life.

Over the last eight years Ahrarnia has hand-stitched and embroidered a variety of digital and photographic images to re-examine the idea of cultural constructs as ideological ‘stitch ups’. His obsessive, and at times compulsive, involvement with his art stems from emotional, intellectual and conceptual sources deeply embedded in his personal history.

He divides his time between Sheffield and his beloved hometown, Shiraz, the city of great poets such as Hafez and Saadi just a few miles away from Persepolis. The two cities are also famous for their textiles and silverware, the two bases of his current work.

Ahrarnia selects images from cyberspace and his personal collection of magazine and newspaper photographs and books, and digitally prints them onto cotton aida for its evenly punctured, geometric and net-like surface. Then, he intricately embellishes the surface of these images, stitch by stitch, leaving a needle or hanging thread – a motif that creates an extraordinary tension.

The subject of his work varies greatly, and his admiration for Kazimir Malevich and Modernism can be detected as he renders external and internal conflicts with delicate touch. His early works are small format and include a series based on CCTV footage of the youth riots in Bradford in 2001, in which he questions Britain’s anti-terror laws, to the flamboyant portrait of Colonel Gaddafi of Libya from the cover of TIME in 1986, which was captioned ‘Target: Gaddafi’ some 25 years before his recent degrading demise. In his Viva Diba series, he deconstructs photographs of the former Empress of Iran, Farah Diba Pahlavi, from the 1960s and 70s, such as her crowning ceremony or official visits to remote villages, mosques and schools.

These often very pixillated images are frozen in time; melancholic depictions of a woman whose contribution

4

Dar Golestan, 39 x 51 cm, 2008

5

EYE OF THE NEEDLE

By Rose issa

Until the 1980s, British coal miners would take a caged canary with them underground. Because the bird sings most of the time, if the oxygen level dropped or any dangerous gases escaped, its silence meant its death, and was an early warning system. The phrase ‘canary in a coal mine’ refers to someone who can detect signs of trouble and danger – someone whose sensitivity makes them vulnerable. The sentiment is an appropriate title for Farhad Ahrarnia’s work: the idea of the caged canary, singing in the depths of the ground, while shovels unearth treasure, digging into the fabric of life.

Over the last eight years Ahrarnia has hand-stitched and embroidered a variety of digital and photographic images to re-examine the idea of cultural constructs as ideological ‘stitch ups’. His obsessive, and at times compulsive, involvement with his art stems from emotional, intellectual and conceptual sources deeply embedded in his personal history.

He divides his time between Sheffield and his beloved hometown, Shiraz, the city of great poets such as Hafez and Saadi just a few miles away from Persepolis. The two cities are also famous for their textiles and silverware, the two bases of his current work.

Ahrarnia selects images from cyberspace and his personal collection of magazine and newspaper photographs and books, and digitally prints them onto cotton aida for its evenly punctured, geometric and net-like surface. Then, he intricately embellishes the surface of these images, stitch by stitch, leaving a needle or hanging thread – a motif that creates an extraordinary tension.

The subject of his work varies greatly, and his admiration for Kazimir Malevich and Modernism can be detected as he renders external and internal conflicts with delicate touch. His early works are small format and include a series based on CCTV footage of the youth riots in Bradford in 2001, in which he questions Britain’s anti-terror laws, to the flamboyant portrait of Colonel Gaddafi of Libya from the cover of TIME in 1986, which was captioned ‘Target: Gaddafi’ some 25 years before his recent degrading demise. In his Viva Diba series, he deconstructs photographs of the former Empress of Iran, Farah Diba Pahlavi, from the 1960s and 70s, such as her crowning ceremony or official visits to remote villages, mosques and schools.

These often very pixillated images are frozen in time; melancholic depictions of a woman whose contribution

4

Dar Golestan, 39 x 51 cm, 2008

5

beautiful is the silence of ruins The way modern wars are fought is not just by mobilising troops from one part of the globe to another. In fact, the battle of cultural and ideological ambitions and concepts is fought in the most psychologically sophisticated, twisted and insidious manner.

In Iran many believe that another war, based on intellectual ammunition, has been waged on the mind and spirit of her people since the invention of mass communication. For many, the global impact of Hollywood remains the instigator of an imperialistic battle against existing traditions and local culture. At the core of Hollywood’s cultural imposition and exchange exists a strong sense of attraction and flirtation with the exotic and unknown nature of the ‘other’. In the Middle East this fascination with Hollywood and her exports also prevails.

Edited extract from the personal journal and notes of Farhad Ahararnia, Shiraz, Winter 2010

20 Beautiful is the Silence of Ruins IV, 99 x 132 cm, 2011

21

beautiful is the silence of ruins The way modern wars are fought is not just by mobilising troops from one part of the globe to another. In fact, the battle of cultural and ideological ambitions and concepts is fought in the most psychologically sophisticated, twisted and insidious manner.

In Iran many believe that another war, based on intellectual ammunition, has been waged on the mind and spirit of her people since the invention of mass communication. For many, the global impact of Hollywood remains the instigator of an imperialistic battle against existing traditions and local culture. At the core of Hollywood’s cultural imposition and exchange exists a strong sense of attraction and flirtation with the exotic and unknown nature of the ‘other’. In the Middle East this fascination with Hollywood and her exports also prevails.

Edited extract from the personal journal and notes of Farhad Ahararnia, Shiraz, Winter 2010

20 Beautiful is the Silence of Ruins IV, 99 x 132 cm, 2011

21

death in America From the outset of the war imposed on Iran in the 1980s, American Western films started to appear on Iranian national TV, but with a difference: contrary to the norm, viewers identified and sympathised with the Indians (or native Americans). I remember how we Iranians were encouraged to relate to the history and conditions of these colonised people. The slogan, ‘Down with America’ would be on the tip of everyone’s tongue, and still remains there as part of official protocol. But I argue that this morbid and deathly aspect of American history and identity is already deeply ingrained, and remains at the core of her formation – the biggest act of colonial construction of a nation. Indeed, there has been much ‘Death in America’.

Edited extract from the personal journal and notes of Farhad Ahrarnia, Sheffield, Winter 2009

30 Bury My Heart I, 36 x 54 cm, 2011

31

death in America From the outset of the war imposed on Iran in the 1980s, American Western films started to appear on Iranian national TV, but with a difference: contrary to the norm, viewers identified and sympathised with the Indians (or native Americans). I remember how we Iranians were encouraged to relate to the history and conditions of these colonised people. The slogan, ‘Down with America’ would be on the tip of everyone’s tongue, and still remains there as part of official protocol. But I argue that this morbid and deathly aspect of American history and identity is already deeply ingrained, and remains at the core of her formation – the biggest act of colonial construction of a nation. Indeed, there has been much ‘Death in America’.

Edited extract from the personal journal and notes of Farhad Ahrarnia, Sheffield, Winter 2009

30 Bury My Heart I, 36 x 54 cm, 2011

31

50 From left: The Dig – Composition XI, Composition VI, Composition II, Composition IV, silver-plated copper, all 42 x 27 x 3 cm, 2011

51

the dig As a free spirit, in his spare time my father was always digging in the garden, turning over the soil so it could breathe, absorb moisture, and gain a new lease of life. In different corners of our garden there was always an array of six or seven shovels standing by, in various stages of functionality or disrepair, pretending to be sculptures of some significance and value. For me, Dad represented nature while Mum stood for culture. She had read history at the University of Shiraz in the early 1960s, a time when there was a flourishing sense of pride in Iran’s ancient cultural heritage. She was particularly fond of silver objects with traditional engravings of glorious historical motifs and scenes of fables and ceremonies. My shovels are an ode to my parents’ memory, their youth, legacy and values.

Edited extract from the personal journal of Farhad Ahrarnia, Shiraz, Summer 2010

48 The Dig – Composition I, silver-plated copper, 42 x 27 x 3 cm, 2011

49

60 From left: Silver Dustpan – Composition VI, Composition II, Composition IV, Composition V, silver plated-copper, all 36 x 23 x 3 cm, 2010

61

dustpan of history As with the shovels, the shape and contours of my dustpans are a framing device. The historical motifs embossed and engraved on their surface are in harmony and at one with the tools’ practical function.

There is no distinction in the value of these entangled and implicated objects, signs and symbols.

Edited extract from the personal journal of Farhad Ahrarnia, Shiraz, Spring 2010

58 Silver Dustpan – Composition I, silver-plated copper, 36 x 23 x 3 cm, 2010

59

portraits We will never truly know the interior life and psychological complexity of public figures such as Farah Diba, Empress of Iran; poet and film director Forough Farrokhzad; or the singer Faegheh Atashin, also known as Googoosh. Instead their portraits have become a public space for the projection of collective histories, aspirations, fears and failures.

As socio-cultural constructs, the lives of these women were exposed to much manipulation and distortion, and consequently they have become a representation of the tainted and distant modern values of their time. In turn, their portraits are shattered mirrors that reflect postponed, interrupted and unrealised hopes and desires.

Edited extract from the personal journal and notes of Farhad Ahrarnia, Sheffield, Summer 2007

74 The Body of Her Spirit, 44 x 26 cm, 2007

75

portraits We will never truly know the interior life and psychological complexity of public figures such as Farah Diba, Empress of Iran; poet and film director Forough Farrokhzad; or the singer Faegheh Atashin, also known as Googoosh. Instead their portraits have become a public space for the projection of collective histories, aspirations, fears and failures.

As socio-cultural constructs, the lives of these women were exposed to much manipulation and distortion, and consequently they have become a representation of the tainted and distant modern values of their time. In turn, their portraits are shattered mirrors that reflect postponed, interrupted and unrealised hopes and desires.

Edited extract from the personal journal and notes of Farhad Ahrarnia, Sheffield, Summer 2007

74 The Body of Her Spirit, 44 x 26 cm, 2007

75

76

From far left: The Becoming, 28 x 22 cm, 2007; Lady Oracle, Grey; Lady Oracle, Red, 34 x 28 cm, 2007; Between the Lines, 106 x 97 cm, 2008

77

76

From far left: The Becoming, 28 x 22 cm, 2007; Lady Oracle, Grey; Lady Oracle, Red, 34 x 28 cm, 2007; Between the Lines, 106 x 97 cm, 2008

77

ballet pars My interest in ballet stems from the ways in which, historically and socially, our bodies are conditioned, controlled and tamed. In 1873, Nasser al-Din Shah, King of Persia, made the first of his famous travels to Paris, where he became particularly enchanted by ballet and photography. Perhaps both mediums can be considered as agents of modernity, effective means of capturing and expressing acceleration in movement of modern minds and bodies. Thereafter, tutus and cameras entered the Persian royal court, and the fascination with European cultural expressions and constitutions grew rapidly. I am interested in the performative and abstract qualities of dance, and ballet in particular. The way in which a moving tableau is created by means of abstract movements and bodily gestures is fascinating.

Kandinsky based the composition of many of his paintings on the various configurations of bodily postures in dance. Furthermore, as with embroidery, the practices of ballet and the art of needlework flourish on dedication, obsession, discipline and punishment.

Edited extract from the personal journal and notes of Farhad Ahararnia, Shiraz, Spring 2009

90 Ballet Pars I, 157.8 x 133.2 cm, 2008-10

91

ballet pars My interest in ballet stems from the ways in which, historically and socially, our bodies are conditioned, controlled and tamed. In 1873, Nasser al-Din Shah, King of Persia, made the first of his famous travels to Paris, where he became particularly enchanted by ballet and photography. Perhaps both mediums can be considered as agents of modernity, effective means of capturing and expressing acceleration in movement of modern minds and bodies. Thereafter, tutus and cameras entered the Persian royal court, and the fascination with European cultural expressions and constitutions grew rapidly. I am interested in the performative and abstract qualities of dance, and ballet in particular. The way in which a moving tableau is created by means of abstract movements and bodily gestures is fascinating.

Kandinsky based the composition of many of his paintings on the various configurations of bodily postures in dance. Furthermore, as with embroidery, the practices of ballet and the art of needlework flourish on dedication, obsession, discipline and punishment.

Edited extract from the personal journal and notes of Farhad Ahararnia, Shiraz, Spring 2009

90 Ballet Pars I, 157.8 x 133.2 cm, 2008-10

91

92

Ballet Pars II, 148.2 x 108.2 cm; Ballet Pars III, 108.2 x 138.2 cm, 2008-10

93

For the first time the body is no longer coupled with the world; it entwines another body, applying itself carefully with its entire length, its hands tirelessly tracing the contours of the strange statue that in turn renders all it receives, lost beyond the world and its purposes, fascinated by the sole occupation of floating in Being with another life, making itself the outside of its inside and the inside of its outside. Henceforth movement, touch and sight, applying themselves to the other and to themselves, climb back toward their source, and, in the patient, silent of desire, the paradox of expression begins.

From The Merleau-Ponty Aesthetics Reader, p. 198, edited and with an introduction by Galen A Johnson and with translation edited by Michael B Smith (Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1994). Copyright 1993 Northwestern University Press. All rights reserved.

94 Ballet Pars V, 160 x 123 cm, 2011

95

biography Farhad Ahrarnia was born in 1971 in Shiraz, Iran and graduated in Experimental and Documentary Film Theory and Practice from the Northern Media School, Sheffield Hallam University, England (1992-1997). He lives and works between Sheffield and Shiraz.

bibliography Exhibition catalogues Zendegi: Twelve Contemporary Iranian Artists, edited by Rose Issa (London: Beyond Art Production, 2011) Bringing the War Home, by Pippa Oldfield (Bradford: Impressions Gallery, 2010)

Forthcoming exhibitions include the solo show, Canary in a Coal Mine at Rose Issa Projects, London; a solo show at The Art Gallery of Uzbekistan, Tashkent; and a group show, Migrasophia, at the Maraya Contemporary Art Centre in Sharjah, UAE. In the UK, his recent solo shows include Stitched with Rose Issa Projects at Leighton House Museum, London (2008); and Home at Bessie Sertees House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead (both 2004-05).

He has participated in several group shows, including Quotations from Daily Life, 6th Tashkent Biennale of Contemporary Art (2011); Zendegi: Twelve Contemporary Iranian Artists, Rose Issa Projects at the Beirut Exhibition Center (2011); the touring exhibition, Bringing the War Home, Impressions Gallery, Bradford (2010-12); Balla Drama, Paradise Row Gallery (2009); A Picture of Us, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield (2009); Magic of Persia, Royal College of Art, London (2009); Connect at the Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford, Sheffield Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and Documenta XII, Kassel, Germany (2007); Prelude, at the Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford (2006); and Palace & Mosque: Islamic Arts from the Victoria & Albert Museum at the Millennium Galleries, Sheffield (2006).

Stitched, edited by Rose Issa (London: Beyond Art Production, 2008) The Sheffield Pavilion, an artists’ book and DVD produced by the Sheffield Contemporary Art Forum for the Venice Biennale and Documenta XII (Sheffield Contemporary Art Forum, 2007) Home, edited by Clymene Christoforou and Anna Wilkinson (Newcastle: Isis Arts and Northern Print Studio, 2005) Arttextiles3, edited by Barbara Taylor (Suffolk: Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, 2004) One Landscape, Many Views, edited by Nicola Stephenson (Huddersfield: The Culture Company, 2003) Art of the Stitch – Sample, edited by Polly Leonard and Chris Berry (Embroiders Guild, 2003) Tone, edited by Nichola Stephenson (Huddersfield: The Culture Company, 2001)

Ahrarnia also featured in the touring exhibitions Art Textiles 3 (Suffolk, Scotland, and Nottinghamshire; 2004) and Art of The Stitch (London, Liverpool, The Netherlands; 2004). Prior to 2004, his work was on display in Transformations at the Manchester Museum (2003); One Landscape Many Views, commissioned by the Culture Company, Bradford Council and Art Council England at the Cartwright Hall Museum, Bradford (2002); and the touring exhibition Tone: Photography and New Media, supported by The Art Council England at Opera North, Leeds and Impressions Gallery, York (2001).

Contemporary art books Art of the Middle East: Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World and Iran, by Saeb Eigner (London: Merrell Publishers, 2010)

His work is in the public collections of the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford; Harewood House, Leeds; and the British Museum, London.

Contemporary Iranian Arts and Visual Culture: Of Street, Studio, and Exile, by Tallin Grigor (London: Reaktion Books, 2012)

Telling Stories: Countering Narrative in Art, Theory and Film, edited by Jane Tormey and Gillian Whitely (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2008)

Art journals The Happy Hypocrite, Issue One: Linguistic Hardcore, edited by Maria Fusco (London: Book Works, 2008) MAP: Journeys in Contemporary Art, editor Alice Bain, Issue 15 autumn 2008 Press Ahrarnia has featured in The Times, The Guardian and Canvas magazine, among other British and international journals, and has been interviewed on The Review Show on BBC Radio 4.

118

119

biography Farhad Ahrarnia was born in 1971 in Shiraz, Iran and graduated in Experimental and Documentary Film Theory and Practice from the Northern Media School, Sheffield Hallam University, England (1992-1997). He lives and works between Sheffield and Shiraz.

bibliography Exhibition catalogues Zendegi: Twelve Contemporary Iranian Artists, edited by Rose Issa (London: Beyond Art Production, 2011) Bringing the War Home, by Pippa Oldfield (Bradford: Impressions Gallery, 2010)

Forthcoming exhibitions include the solo show, Canary in a Coal Mine at Rose Issa Projects, London; a solo show at The Art Gallery of Uzbekistan, Tashkent; and a group show, Migrasophia, at the Maraya Contemporary Art Centre in Sharjah, UAE. In the UK, his recent solo shows include Stitched with Rose Issa Projects at Leighton House Museum, London (2008); and Home at Bessie Sertees House, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead (both 2004-05).

He has participated in several group shows, including Quotations from Daily Life, 6th Tashkent Biennale of Contemporary Art (2011); Zendegi: Twelve Contemporary Iranian Artists, Rose Issa Projects at the Beirut Exhibition Center (2011); the touring exhibition, Bringing the War Home, Impressions Gallery, Bradford (2010-12); Balla Drama, Paradise Row Gallery (2009); A Picture of Us, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield (2009); Magic of Persia, Royal College of Art, London (2009); Connect at the Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford, Sheffield Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and Documenta XII, Kassel, Germany (2007); Prelude, at the Cartwright Hall Gallery, Bradford (2006); and Palace & Mosque: Islamic Arts from the Victoria & Albert Museum at the Millennium Galleries, Sheffield (2006).

Stitched, edited by Rose Issa (London: Beyond Art Production, 2008) The Sheffield Pavilion, an artists’ book and DVD produced by the Sheffield Contemporary Art Forum for the Venice Biennale and Documenta XII (Sheffield Contemporary Art Forum, 2007) Home, edited by Clymene Christoforou and Anna Wilkinson (Newcastle: Isis Arts and Northern Print Studio, 2005) Arttextiles3, edited by Barbara Taylor (Suffolk: Bury St Edmunds Art Gallery, 2004) One Landscape, Many Views, edited by Nicola Stephenson (Huddersfield: The Culture Company, 2003) Art of the Stitch – Sample, edited by Polly Leonard and Chris Berry (Embroiders Guild, 2003) Tone, edited by Nichola Stephenson (Huddersfield: The Culture Company, 2001)

Ahrarnia also featured in the touring exhibitions Art Textiles 3 (Suffolk, Scotland, and Nottinghamshire; 2004) and Art of The Stitch (London, Liverpool, The Netherlands; 2004). Prior to 2004, his work was on display in Transformations at the Manchester Museum (2003); One Landscape Many Views, commissioned by the Culture Company, Bradford Council and Art Council England at the Cartwright Hall Museum, Bradford (2002); and the touring exhibition Tone: Photography and New Media, supported by The Art Council England at Opera North, Leeds and Impressions Gallery, York (2001).

Contemporary art books Art of the Middle East: Modern and Contemporary Art of the Arab World and Iran, by Saeb Eigner (London: Merrell Publishers, 2010)

His work is in the public collections of the Cartwright Hall Art Gallery, Bradford; Harewood House, Leeds; and the British Museum, London.

Contemporary Iranian Arts and Visual Culture: Of Street, Studio, and Exile, by Tallin Grigor (London: Reaktion Books, 2012)

Telling Stories: Countering Narrative in Art, Theory and Film, edited by Jane Tormey and Gillian Whitely (Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2008)

Art journals The Happy Hypocrite, Issue One: Linguistic Hardcore, edited by Maria Fusco (London: Book Works, 2008) MAP: Journeys in Contemporary Art, editor Alice Bain, Issue 15 autumn 2008 Press Ahrarnia has featured in The Times, The Guardian and Canvas magazine, among other British and international journals, and has been interviewed on The Review Show on BBC Radio 4.

118

119

contemporary artist Farhad Ahrarnia draws inspiration from his upbringing in Iran to comment on inter-cultural misunderstanding, media manipulation, and the ongoing tug-of-war between modernity and tradition. His multi-layered works resonate with symbolism and can be interpreted a multitude of ways, but the warmth, wit, vibrant colours and unsettling tension of loose threads and needles leave an immediate and lasting impression.

farhad ahrarnia

In his sculptures and embroidered digital prints on canvas,

edited by rose issa beyond art production

£ 15.00

farhad ahrarnia

canary in a coal mine Edited by Rose Issa