SHAHNAMEH: Painting with Artifacts | Kaveh Neghani

SHAHNAMEH

Painting with Artifacts

WHITE GALLERY
JANUARY 8 – 31, 2020
RECEPTION: JANUARY 15, 6 – 8 PM

White Gallery is proud to present “Shahnameh; Painting with Artifacts,” an exhibition by the Persian visual artist Kaveh Negahani. By using arrowheads as paintbrushes, spearheads like palate knives, Nagahani illustrates Persian history by, quite literally, painting with artifacts. For this series, Nagahani uses iconography from rugs, Henna patterns, and famous carvings, all featured in the American pop art style. This showcase is a visualization of Nagahani’s ancestors, what they stood for, and the inspiration for his work: promoting Indigenous Languages of North America. Curated by Safiyah Maurice.

Artwork Statement:

As stated by the artist, Kaveh Negahan

The Art

The most important feature of this showcase is that it was painted using artifacts. I used
arrowheads as paintbrushes and spearheads like palate knives. All of these artifacts have two things in common... they were found along the ruins of The Persian Royal Road... and were brought to America by Persian refugees who fled from Iran after the fall of the last shah. These items would have been destroyed by the rise of the current Islamic Republic. The content of these paintings (because of its pre-Islamic history) would make them Illegal in present-day Iran.

My hope is to inspire Persian children in America. We are lucky enough to have access to the internet, to be inspired by our fight against the slave trade, our history of inclusion, and equality between men and women. I hope these paintings inspire Jewish children and help them think of Iran differently when they sing songs from the Torah about the Persian Shah’s who fought for their freedom in our wars against the slave-trade.

The Artist

Persian children grow up hearing stories from the Shahnameh. We hear our parents talk about how one book, written by one man, saved our heritage language. Because of one person–his art, his passion, and his dedication, we still have our heritage language. For those of us that fled Iran, we can understand languages from northern India because our ancestors traded together on the Persian Royal Road. This is a gift from the Shah, who purged all the Arabic words we had accumulated and replaced them with the words our ancestors stamped into clay. This is what inspired the power of art, and language in the Persian child who grew up to be an artist, and a linguistics major at Portland State University. This showcase is a visualization of my ancestors, what we stood for, and the inspiration for my work Promoting Indigenous Languages of North America.

Kaveh Negahani’s Family History

My father’s side of the family worked for the Shah. We were lucky because as a Persian child, I grew up with a unique view on Language, and language preservation. I grew up around Persian people who believed in the power of art. I had the chance to see how Ferdowsi used rhymes to illustrate what words sounded similar... capturing pronunciation before the International Phonetic Alphabet. Today I’m using the techniques used by my ancestors... and making both historic and modern linguistic tools available to Indigenous Languages in North America... specifically for languages that are “protected” or “too sacred to share.” I’m trying to make room for these heritage cultures to have the tools they need to inspire their own Ferdowsi.

Littman WhiteFebruary 12, 2020