Parastou Forouhar

Through her photographs, installations, and multi-media presentations, Parastou Forouhar recounts the conflict between beauty and violence and at the same time provokes the mind of the observer by displacing familiar signs of ethnic and gender projection. In her works, elements from oriental clichés familiar to the west are evoked and transferred into a new context. This is best represented in Parastou’s “Eslimi” (ornamental) collection which is a fabric with familiar patterns of deceptive charm. A closer look at the patterns reveals their true identity as knives, whips, needles and other instruments of torture. Dramatic post-revolution tensions have been a major source of inspiration in the works of Parastou Forouhar.

Having completed her undergraduate studies in Art at University of Tehran, she later obtained M.A. from Hochschule für Gestaltung in Germany where she has been living since 1991. Parastou has had numerous exhibitions throughout the world and her works are in the permanent collection of such museums as: Belvedere Museum, Vienna, Austria; Badisches Landesmuseum, Karlsruhe, Germany; Musem of Modern Art, Frankfurt; and the Deutsche Bank Art Collection.