Ali Ghasemian

Ali Ghasemian

‘Entice’

Graphic design

charcoal, pencil and Adobe Photoshop 2020

3 digital prints

My body of work comprises three panels of realistic portraits combined with graphic elements. The piercing gaze of the figures fused with various graphic techniques allowed me to produce artworks that captured my audience's attention. Hence, I was able to connect them to my artwork. I chose to utilise both drawing and graphic elements as it further showed my capabilities in different mediums. The realistic charcoal figures juxtaposed with the 2D digital components are reminiscent of the modern magazine's promotional nature, which reflects the intention of my artwork to promote the beauty of my Persian culture and attract the audience to explore it further. Furthermore, each of my panels contains various symbolic elements to highlight different aspects of my culture and represent my true Persian identity.

As inferred in the title, the purpose of my artwork is to attract modern audiences to explore the beauty and intricate aspects of my Persian culture. I intentionally chose to depict only women as the central figure of my work to challenge and break stereotypes that people may have had on their roles in society and their importance to Iran. For decades, the media has dehumanized Persian women, portraying them as oppressed and undervaluing their importance in society's roles; however, my body of work aims to debunk these stereotypes and instead celebrate and illustrate them as important. Thus, my body of work both celebrates Persian culture and challenges presumptions.

Influencing artists:

- Shirin Neshat

- Frida Kahlo

- Richard Hamilton