A Ruin from the Past

Islamic Art Now: Contemporary Art of the Middle East
© Malekeh Nayiny, photo courtesy of the artist
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A Ruin from the Past

Edition: 3/12

2007
Photographs
Dye coupler print
Image: 47 1/4 × 31 1/2 in. (120.02 × 80.01 cm) Sheet: 51 1/4 × 35 3/8 in. (130.15 × 89.85 cm)
Purchased with funds provided by Nina Ansary (M.2017.13.1)
Not currently on public view

Curator Notes

...
The Paris-based artist Malekeh Nayiny draws upon the great Iranian hero Rustam in a pair of works (see also M.2017.13.2) that pertains both to the universal notion of confronting one’s demons and to the specifically regional theme of the Iranian national epic, the Shahnama. In terms of the latter, the demons are those defeated by Rustam, as depicted here in the scene in which he kills the White Div, a monstrous demon, re-created as a wall mural and announced in the Persian caption beneath the hero’s raised dagger.
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Bibliography

  • Komaroff, Linda. In the Fields of Empty Days: The Intersection of Past and Present in Iranian Art. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Munich; New York: DelMonico Books-Prestel, 2018.