These are the Iranian artists worth getting to know. The photographer who touches on forbidden subjects, the painter who is currently exhibiting in London and the most expensive artist in the Middle East Tahmina Monzway.
Tahmina Monzway
Tahmina Monzwi is a 1988-born Iranian photographer who deals with social issues and devotes long periods of time to documenting a particular topic. Her photo series has a series that follows for two years the life of a transgender woman, a series about the lives of drug-addicted women, a series about the homeless and a series of tattoo photos. Montsawi is also filming documentaries and in 2012 spent about a month in custody in an Iranian prison. The subjects she deals with have made her photographs especially popular in the West and she has exhibited in exhibitions in Paris, Amsterdam, Bologna, Rome and Boston, among others. In the past, she said she was "trying to show the contradictions between social, cultural and economic classes in Iran. These are contradictions that can exist in other countries, but in Iran they tend to be more violent."
Beta and Kili
Beta and Kili's disturbing and expressive works are made of everyday materials such as coins, staples, sand, glitter and paint - and they have made her the most precious woman artist in the Middle East. Her work, called "Dreaming New York," which was estimated to sell for $ 20,000, sold for $ 45,000 at Christie's auction house in Dubai. Wahili was born in Tehran in 1973 and holds art degrees from Azad University and Tehran University. She has exhibited in dozens of exhibitions abroad, but still lives in her hometown.
Ozen Shir-Ozen Ozen Shir-Ozen was born in 1977 in a suburb of Tehran. In the early 2000s he went to study art in Moldova and Romania, and about ten years later returned to his homeland. Shirozhan is best known for large oil paintings featuring portraits of women. In recent years he has exhibited solo exhibitions at some of the reputed galleries in Tehran and also at group exhibitions overseas.
His works are currently on display at the “Sensations” exhibition at Cama Gallery in London (until 25.6), which promotes Iranian art in the international arena. According to the British "Guardian", almost all the works in the exhibition were sold before it opened and at higher-than-expected prices. Most of the artists, as well as the curator of the exhibition, could not leave Iran to be present at it.