Sahar Ghavami “Tangible” Things (2022)

framed: 60h × 60w cm

Acrylic on canvas

In this work, Sahar Ghavami constructs a visual field that operates as an inventory of affect, where symbolic and personal converge without hierarchy. The composition assembles an owl, the Simurgh, a childhood plush, scattered origami birds - each carrying a distinct register of memory and sensation. They are held within a continuous environment, where boundaries soften and forms transition without rupture. The space is neither fully interior nor exterior. A house burns in the background, introducing a condition of instability that persists as an underlying presence. In contrast, gestures of care and attachment remain active in the foreground. Within her broader practice, such symbolic references are reconfigured through personal memory and cultural translation. The inclusion of the Simurgh situates the work within a lineage of transformation, while the owl and plush figure anchor it in embodied perception and early attachment. Across the composition, origami birds introduce a secondary structure - repeated, fragile forms that suggest construction and intention. Ghavami notes, "hope is not abstract here. It is something made by hand, one careful fold at a time".