Reimagining the City

Artist: Narges Hashemi
Place: Homa Art Gallery
2023, Aug 18th – Sep 13th

Author: Amin Shirpour

Entering the gallery, we see paintings that are different from our classical idea of painting. There are works full of regular geometric shapes in different colors. Narges Hashemi has used geometric shapes and colors to paint cities from a satellite view geometrically, which we have to imagine them in our mind through the guides next to them. Green environment, water facilities, empty spaces, cultural and commercial centers, residential areas, etc., each marked with a specific color and shape, are among the guidelines.
As Shahrouz Nazari wrote in the statement of this exhibition, Iranian miniature, pre-Columbian geometry, and even Bauhaus abstraction come to mind in the first encounter with her works. Whatever it is, transforming the city into shapes and maps has not only reduced the concept of the city, but also arouses the audience’s imagination to reread the city and imagine it as they like. imagine it as they like.
In another part of this exhibition, we can see macramés hanged from the ceiling. The space designed with them, together with other elements placed there, reminds of the old bathrooms of the houses. It is difficult to link this macrame installation with the other works of the exhibition, and it is not much explained in the statement as well.