Sahar Ghavami Guardian (2025)

framed: 150h × 150w cm

Acrylic on canvas

'Guardian' reconsiders the assumed hierarchy between human and animal, positioning care as a reciprocal condition. The composition centers on a scaled imbalance: the animal figure looms above, not as a threat but as a stabilizing presence, while the human subject appears small, contained within its proximity. Light reinforces this inversion, suggesting a transfer of agency. Developed in relation to the artist’s lived experience, the work draws on a personal bond with a companion animal, reframing it through a broader inquiry into dependency and support. Within Sahar Ghavami’s wider practice, animals move between roles of guardian and dependent, destabilizing fixed positions of control. In 'Guardian', this dynamic is made explicit. The work proposes a model of coexistence in which care circulates, at times returning to the human subject, as we "convince ourselves we are their protectors".