Immediately after leaving my family and homeland behind to experience a new life of freedom for the first time in the United States, I was surprised to find professors constantly questioning my focus on Islam in my "Resistance / Submission" series.  

In an attempt to make them understand how it feels like to be forced to wear a veil, I decided to make them wear one and sit for me -if only for a short period of time- and they graciously accepted. The saint series were born  out of this interaction, starting with the portraits below.

At the time of their creation, I was studying  the origins of Persian miniatures and influences of Iranian art on Islam for my thesis titled: "The Bending Cypress & the Standing Poet". Fascinated by the intersection of Sassanian and Byzantine art, it was neither a surprise nor a coincidence that my superfluous attempt at discomforting critical  professors concluded in their resemblance, of all things, to Byzantine saints. 

During the same period I was also introduced to Orhan Pamuk's award winning novel 'My Name Is Red'.  Pamuk's novel inspired me, deeply influencing the direction the portraits took. Gradually veils were discarded and the portraits transformed to include elemental details of Persian miniatures. While the initial birth of the saint figure in my work has been completely unintentional, I continued building upon various series of saints. art persian art contemporary iranian artist oil painting CONTEMPORARY  IRANIAN ARTIST SHADY