MARYAM NAJD
MICKI CHOMICKI
SEVEN SHADES OF BLOOD
16 May - 29 June 2024
When Maryam Najd bids farewell to Tehran in 1992 to enrich her artistic practice in Antwerp with new impulses, she does not leave everything behind. In her art, she retains elements from Iranian miniature art, but also addresses Iranian politics, censorship, and the position of women.
In 2022, Iranian Mahsa Amini dies in her cell after being arrested for not entirely covering her hair with her hijab. Her death sparks months of protests. The struggle for women's rights inspires Maryam Najd for the series Nation Wide Protest. The series depicts women's hairstyles on a wig stand. The faces are absent, censored, but the hair reveals their identity.
With her latest series Seven Shades of Blood, Najd takes it a step further. The characteristic hairstyle returns. The identifiable face is censored again. But the seven hairdos are enclosed in a broad painted frame. This edge consists of color, abstraction, and geometric shapes. It narrows our focus. It suggests a window, a frame, or a niche like we see in Persian miniature art. The wide margin is a limitation that protects or imprisons the mystery and power of the hairstyle.
The seven paintings can be read like a contemporary parable. Analogous to Haft Paykar, a Persian epic from the 12th century, the series depict a cycle of seven colors, from black to white, from Saturday to Friday, across different realms and celestial bodies. Today’s version by Najd, is a female quest for freedom and enlightenment.
When Micki Chomicki discovers Maryam Najd's work, an immediate connection is formed between the two artists. Both are individually but simultaneously immersed in the functions and meanings of hairstyles. The creative collaboration culminates in this duo exhibition in a new Antwerp art gallery with an exceptional mission.
The Micki Chomicki Gallery shares and questions the intrinsic values of hair with an eye for political power, social identity, cultural empowerment, and beyond. The space opens a kaleidoscopic journey through the subject of hair, an infinite source of inspiration and magical properties, exploring the subtle twists and aesthetic undercurrents of this human material.
In Seven Shades of Blood, Micki Chomicki presents seven evocations or proposals. In dialogue with Najd, she shows combinations of a double fetishism of shoes and hair. Once again, we receive suggestions on how the experience of consciousness through feminism can be perceived. Seven different ways of marching or protesting are shown. Seven suggestions for progress carried by women's feet touching the world.
Although both artists have their own perspectives and offer unique creative interpretations, Seven Shades of Blood provides liberating insights and connections about imaginary female bodies from head to toe. Despite their different artistic backgrounds and different shades of blood, both artists arrive at a joint conclusion about female self-awareness.
Text by Niko Goffin (arterie.be)