Bodies and body parts, particularly those of women, are of central importance in Abbassy’s paintings, drawings, and
sculpture, as in this drawing, in which a woman surreally takes shape through a collection of body parts, including small
heads that compose the crown of her own head and large decorated fingers that overlap to make up the lower half of her body.
Layered over the woman’s chest like a breastplate is a schematic drawing of the ribs and internal organs, a visual reference
borrowed from medieval Persian anatomical drawings. Despite the woman’s placid expression, the faces that seemingly crowd
her mind add a psychological charge to the drawing, while the title suggests that she is only barely held together, perhaps on
the verge of disassembling. Abbassy was born in Iran, emigrated to the United Kingdom in childhood, and currently lives in the
United States.
