Soheila Sokhanvari: Rebel Rebel

Exquisite exhibition at the Barbican Curve of small portraits of influential Iranian women by Soheila Sokhanvari.

These were beautiful works about A5 in size painted in great detail in egg tempera on vellum. They glowed with colour despite the faces and limbs being left black and white. It would have been good to know why that was. They were very much in the style of old Persian painting which I love.

They were displayed as an immersive environment with the walls painted in a geometric pattern based on a tradition Islamic design and with a sound scape featuring female voices. I was shocked to read that it is illegal for women to sing in public in Iran.

Most importantly the show highlighted the lives of these women with interesting biographies of them in the handout. In a little moan it would have been nice, given there was so much information, to have had printed guide. There was an online one via a QR code but I find those hard to read as I go round a show or a large print one in a folder which was very cumbersome to use. The Alice Neel show upstairs did have a leaflet available.

Closes 26 February 2023


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