Iranian art exhibition in London spotlights scenes from war-torn isolation
The new show at Ab-Anbar Gallery brings more than 300 works by over 100 Iranian artists to London, offering a vivid snapshot of a scene that thrives despite war, sanctions and travel bans. Gallerist Orkideh Daroodi hand‑carried many pieces in her suitcase, while others took a circuitous route through Oman and DHL, often arriving after 24‑hour delays.
The works pulse with a mix of sorrow and hope. Mountain ranges dominate paintings and photographs, symbolising both oppression and escape. Shahrooz Mohammed captures friends laughing on a car ride toward snow‑capped peaks, while Karim Ghane presents melancholic outskirts of Iranian towns. Serminaz Barseghian reimagines the dormant Damavand volcano in vivid felt‑tip colors, and Mohamed Ghazali layers translucent tape over his photos, leaving the mountain starkly exposed.
Among the younger voices, Erfan Rouhina (born 2001) offers delicate still‑lifes of dried Persian limes, Negin Sadaf creates abstract collages on tea‑stained paper, and Mojdeh Souri draws wild mountain plants in acrylic on cardboard. The exhibition also celebrates self‑taught masters such as Tajsar Jaferi, whose quilts burst with animal motifs, and Mojtaba Vahedi, whose intricate embroidery recalls Islamic illustration.
Curated by Salman Matinfar, the founding director of Ab-Anbar, the show aims to break the artists’ isolation. By forgoing its usual commission, the gallery passes sales—ranging from £200 to £3,000—directly to the creators and their Tehran partners. Matinfar sees the project as a bridge between the diaspora and a vibrant, often unseen, domestic art community.
From stark political portraits to quiet still‑lifes, the exhibition underscores how contemporary Iranian art has moved beyond the abstraction of the 1960s‑70s, embracing figurative, socially charged and purely aesthetic modes that together reveal a richly diverse cultural landscape.