Mythical Mother 9th - 30th September
Maliheh Zafarnezhad.
Artist Statement
I am an Iranian-Irish mixed-media artist. My practice reflects on my involvement with diaspora, displacement, cross-cultural experiences and most importantly my life experience as an Iranian-Irish woman who experienced both cultures.
After becoming a mother in a country which was far away from my homeland, motherhood was another subject that began to show up in my artworks since six years ago. Being a perfectionist for most of my life, I used to envision myself as a perfect mother before giving birth – a supermom. But when it showed its reality to me, it was almost impossible to do everything perfect. I had no family around me in Ireland, and later on, had to do another immigration from Ireland to UK when my son was only one-year old. I almost fell into this trap of traditional idea of what a mother should be like. All of this made me think I’m failing and I’m far away from even being a good mom.
It was exactly the time that I started to create some artworks with the subject of motherhood. Mothers in my works are not happy as they have always been shown in media. In my artworks they are usually exhausted, tired, overwhelmed and sometimes even unhappy about being pregnant. I have been criticized occasionally for not exhibiting a positive image of motherhood. Nonetheless, I believe becoming a mom is great, is sweet but it can also be exhausting as it changes your world suddenly in several ways. I have tried to show my own experience of motherhood in my artwork, which may be another mother’s shared experience.
These artworks for the Mythical Mother Exhibition are from my very recent series of sculptural works, a majority of which I have made during the third UK lockdown. The idea for this new series has been inspired by what I have experienced as a mother and also a wife in a so-called New Normality. I was also feeling desperate as a mother tolerating an enormous pressure of trying my best towards becoming a great mother to my son in that period of time, a mythical mother. Nature played a big role in that period of time as my family and I were exposed to attend many parks and woods around Milton Keynes, an inevitable attempt to stay optimistic and healthy. Swans were the creatures that I was continuously seeing that time, even more frequent than seeing other people as many places were closed, quiet, empty and abandoned. You may see swans in most of my works in this series, that gradually became an indication, a symbol of strength, faith and hope for better days to come as I was exercising to stay strong, loyal and in a great shape (mentally and physically). I used to exploit old family photographs in my works but after the pandemic and spending an exhaustive amount of time in nature, I started to take images of the environment I was experiencing, my son, my husband, capturing the real-time moments to which my presence was exposed. I transferred these images into a body of new wooden assemblage, an experimentation towards new challenges of the use of new and different materials in my art practice. I learned how to cut different types of woods, transfer images on glass, and mix it with wood, all structured into a three dimensional space.
Infinite Rehearsal, photo transfer, collage and acrylic paint on assembled wood blocks on wooden cable drum reel, 2021.
A Day Out, photo transfer, collage and acrylic on wooden blocks. 2021.
An Untold Story, manipulated image transfer and acrylic on wooden assemblage, 2021.
The Hole, photo transfer, collage and acrylic on assembled wood blocks, 2021.
Maliheh Zafarnezhad (b. 1981, Sabzevar, Iran) earned an MA in History of Art from University of Limerick in Ireland and a B.Sc. in Geology from Ferdowsi University of Mashhad in Iran. Maliheh's artistic and professional profile has been recognised internationally, invited to hold art exhibitions, workshops, and speeches, contributing to art magazines worldwide, such as Iran, Ireland, Germany, USA and UAE across different fine art disciplines. One of her artwork has been recently acquired by Durham University's Oriental Museum to be a part of their permanent collection. Maliheh Zafarnezhad lives in Milton Keynes, UK and is residence of Arts Central.