SAGHAR DAEIRI

Iran, 1986

SHAZAR GALLERY

In the Swallow-Kiss-Burn series the artist’s use of oversaturated and vibrant watercolours induces euphoria at first glance. Yet, this sentiment is undermined by a closer look at the protagonists in the paintings, who represent houris, beautiful female companions promised to devout Muslim men after death in paradise. Saghar Daeiri’s houris are nothing close to this fantasy however; these houris undo their archetypal image. They sunbathe and swim in degenerate settings encircled by odd non-human creatures. They dress in unconventional garments; their genders are nonconforming; their bodies do not exemplify popular and commercialised images of beauty. Here we present the works on paper.