At the Rose Art Museum: The powerful feminist imagery of 'Black Rain'
Iranian artist Arghavan Khosravi’s first comprehensive museum survey is now on view
Photo Credit: Arghavan Khosravi and Rachel Uffner Gallery, New York.
August 17, 2023
Iranian artist Arghavan Khosravi’s first comprehensive museum survey is now on view at the Rose Art Museum.
"Black Rain" traces Khosravi’s development as an artist from her "Muslim Ban" series, painted on her expired Iranian passports, alongside over a dozen new reliefs and monumental sculptures created especially for the exhibition. It can be seen in the Rose's Lois Foster Wing through October 22.
“Khosravi’s powerful feminist imagery could not be more relevant as we witness the Iranian regime’s extreme brutality in response to the brave resistance of women and artists chanting ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ in cities across Iran,” said Gannit Ankori, Henry and Lois Foster Director of the Rose Art Museum and Chief Curator. “Over the last seven years, she has developed a unique hybrid style that pushes the boundaries between painting and sculpture. Her richly symbolic works critically explore women’s oppression and their self-empowerment. The Rose Art Museum proudly presents this comprehensive survey, showcasing Khosravi’s immense talent and impactful art.”
Arghavan Khosravi, The Battleground, 2022. Acrylic on canvas over shaped wood panel, on wood panel and wood cutout, elastic cord, metal and glass beads, feather, brass. 63 x 53 in. © Arghavan Khosravi.
Khosravi is known for weaving Persian motifs with surreal iconography, creating ghostly, enigmatic artworks that project gender, censorship, power, and cultural transience. Through her work, Khosravi critically addresses and challenges historically gendered hierarchies that continue today. Black Rain culminates Khosravi’s residency at Brandeis University as the 2023 Perlmutter Artist-in-Residence.
“My paintings reflect the double life I led in Iran, adhering to Islamic Law in public while holding on to freedom of thought and action in private,” Khosravi said. "However, my work is also a vehicle for shifting power, validating personal storytelling, and connecting to universal messages about human rights.”
In preparation for Black Rain, the artist morphed her three-dimensional reliefs into her first free-standing and hanging sculptures. These new pieces, directly inspired by the “Women, Life, Freedom” movement, are colossal in size and scale. Women are still at the center of the work, but they become the architecture instead of existing within architectural relief. Her women are warriors, clad in medieval Persian armor and chainmail. In one piece, the artist adeptly transforms a woman’s hair into arrows—a deadly weapon against oppressive patriarchal regimes.
“My paintings reflect the double life I led in Iran, adhering to Islamic Law in public while holding on to freedom of thought and action in private.”
Arghavan Khosravi
In support of the show, the Rose Art Museum will present Create Date: Heroines and Heros on August 20, a day of family-friendly activities inspired by Black Rain. A public reception for the exhibition will be held on Wednesday, September 13, with an artist talk scheduled for Saturday, October 14. The Rose Art Museum is free and open to the public.
