Sham Ajeen

© Siamak Filizadeh
My gallery Comment Tag Order Photography*
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Sham Ajeen

Series: Underground
Edition: 1/5

2014
Photographs
Inkjet print
59 1/16 × 39 3/8 × 1 1/4 in. (150.02 × 100.01 × 3.18 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by Kitzia and Richard Goodman through the 2016 Collectors Committee (M.2016.138.20)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

Posed like a martyred Christian saint, and perhaps inspired by Mantegna’s St....
Posed like a martyred Christian saint, and perhaps inspired by Mantegna’s St. Sebastian, Filizadeh here depicts the captive Mirza Riza undergoing a form of Qajar-era torture that seems to have been reserved especially for members of the Baha’i sect. Covered only by a loincloth, he has deep cuts in his flesh from which protrude lit candles, dripping wax and blood. The artist seems to have discovered this gruesome method of punishment through a print depicting a member of the Baha’i sect tortured in this manner.
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