O naught, don't bother naught for naught!
-Rumi
Azadeh Hashemzadeh is a graduate photographer who was born in Iran, where she worked as a professional photographer, photo and video editor and also opened her own photography studio. In 2018, she and her husband applied for asylum and in 2019 were granted refugee status in Slovenia, where she wants to continue her life journey. She has worked with the City of Women, Slovenian Philanthropy and various other festivals. In 2022, she was accepted into the European artist residency programme In from the Margins, and in June and August she carried out her experimental art project at the MGLC Print Studio.
Her exploration of printmaking techniques and the connection to her main discipline, photography, led her to create a series of prints in different dimensions. The motifs of a dancer taken from one of her art photographs, the text in Farsi and the graphic expression in the silkscreen technique combine here in a harmonious and lyrical way.
In creating it, she drew on the verses of three great Persian poets of the Middle Ages. Saadi admonishes her that art is what really matters to her (you are so settled in my heart that you are the life in my body). Hafiz comforts her that hard days always pass, and a good person achieves their goal (it does not remain so and it will not remain). Rumi, on the other hand, teaches her to follow her dreams and do good.
Azadeh's works reflect her restless inner world, and the difficult situation she finds herself in as a person who has had to leave her home and find her own place elsewhere. Her works give her hope for a better world and show that the way there exists and is feasible.
Azadeh conducted workshops on printmaking for children, families, locals and different ethnic nationalities, presentations of her work and a Studio Doors Open Day and the pop-up exhibition at the end of the residency. In total, the artist was visited by 278 art lovers during her stay.
Residency dates: 1st - 22nd June and 24th - 31st Aug 2022
