Reflecting the evolution of her work over time, the new series features a range of female figures, active participants in scenes that are as complex as they are ambiguous. Her characters emerge within carefully arranged settings, from ruined cities to painters’ studios and hushed living rooms. The compositions are market by a profusion of vibrant colours, with visually captivating motifs – floral, geometric or tribal. Unexpected symbols are juxtaposed as religious icons rub shoulders with African masks, the gleaming blades of daggers, human skulls and art books, their pages left carelessly open. Draped materials and rugs reveal a world full of meaning.

“Beneath the Fabric of the World” establishes a fascinating parallel between libido and creation, positioning painting as an act of fulfilment, liberation and, consequently, resistance. “Painting is the supreme act, an act of total and joyful freedom, an act that will outlive humanity, a means of combating the power of living beings by transcending them,” explains Nazanin Pouyandeh.

Her work is deeply rooted in her personal history – she was forced to flee Iran at the age of 18 after the politically motivated murder of her father – and inspired by the experience of living in exile as well as centuries of global art history. Influences that flourish in the form of the sort of remarkable mises en abyme reminiscent of the Flemish School and European surrealism. There are references to Shungas, the famous Japanese erotic prints, as well as the works of Matisse and Bonnard. The realistic scenes devised by the artist gradually move away from all tangible veracity. She takes the viewer on a dreamlike, sensory journey that functions as an exploration of the mechanisms of survival and resistance in these uncertain times.