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Seals of Liberation

NWOP 2024

I’m very pleased that my work has been selected as one of the final 70 works for NWOP 2024 from more than a thousand entries. Many thanks to the esteemed judges this year: Lisa Waup, Dunja Rmandić, Erica Green, and Trent Walter for this valuable recognition.

My work, possibly my smallest creation, and most primitively carved , consists of a set of 3D cylinders made from embossed paper and is titled "Seals of Liberation." Here is my artist statement, in 150 words:

With my work, I engage in current conversations through Persian mythology and motifs. As a printmaker, I enjoy using handmade papers in various forms. After reviewing the NWOP criteria, which stipulate that 'the paper must act as the main support of the work,' I felt challenged to connect the historical use of clay tablets as the primary record-keeping material in Persian history with paper as a modern medium.

One of the most historically significant items found is the cylinder seal. Often featuring a hole, these seals were worn alongside decorative beads as necklaces for accessibility and used to press on soft clay tablets for record-keeping purposes.

This trio set offers a new life to the seals, carved with the marks of women riding horses, battling lions, and next to the tree of life. They serve as an acknowledgment of women worldwide, particularly those from my country, during this sensitive period in Iranian history.

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