Images: Paria Goodarzi, Green Land and Northern Breeze, 2024
World Refugee Day 2024
Today on World Refugee Day we celebrate the strength and courage of people who have been forced to flee their home country to escape conflict or persecution, shining a light on their rights and needs. The United Nations’ Day focuses global attention on the plight of people seeking sanctuary, helping to mobilise political will and resources, and to share narratives to counteract the often negative misinformation we see across media.
We invite you to reflect upon artworks by Paria Goodarzi. During her recent residency at D6, she explored the representation of exile, challenging abstract senses of distance and reflecting on the complexities of contemporary existence within the Iranian diaspora in Newcastle.
As part of her research, she grew chia seeds within the fibres of Persian Ghalamkar fabric. The Ghalamkar, a traditional craft deeply rooted in Iranian cultural heritage, holds significant symbolism as a representation of tradition and generational skills passed down through families. With constant watering, the seeds grew within the dense weave. The culmination of this project will involve unraveling the traditional Persian patterns, resulting in the demise of the grass. This act, while fatalistic, carries poetic and political undertones, embodying the ephemeral nature and harsh realities of cultural transformation.
Find out more about Paria’s residency here.
If you’re in Glasgow, you can see Paria’s exhibition Monuments for the Present, in collaboration with Mia Gubbay and Francesca Zappia: www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/monuments-for-the-present
We invite you to reflect upon artworks by Paria Goodarzi. During her recent residency at D6, she explored the representation of exile, challenging abstract senses of distance and reflecting on the complexities of contemporary existence within the Iranian diaspora in Newcastle.
As part of her research, she grew chia seeds within the fibres of Persian Ghalamkar fabric. The Ghalamkar, a traditional craft deeply rooted in Iranian cultural heritage, holds significant symbolism as a representation of tradition and generational skills passed down through families. With constant watering, the seeds grew within the dense weave. The culmination of this project will involve unraveling the traditional Persian patterns, resulting in the demise of the grass. This act, while fatalistic, carries poetic and political undertones, embodying the ephemeral nature and harsh realities of cultural transformation.
Find out more about Paria’s residency here.
If you’re in Glasgow, you can see Paria’s exhibition Monuments for the Present, in collaboration with Mia Gubbay and Francesca Zappia: www.cca-glasgow.com/programme/monuments-for-the-present
