Hadieh Shafie featured on the Sydney Morning Herald

27 Aug 2021

“When she was just a child, Hadieh Shafie and her family left Iran for England. Upon returning in 1978 after the Cultural Revolution, she could see and feel the change in her home country. She recalls her brother grabbing her hand, asking if they got off the wrong station as the country was visually different.

“I saw euphoria, I saw executions, I saw arrests, I saw death, I saw love. And I saw people still making food, sharing food, loving each other. There was this volatile mix of a very heightened series of emotions.” – Hadieh Shafie

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Jenny Valentish from the The Sydney Morning Herald speaks to artist on her practice, her motivations and her personal history.

For the first time ever, Hadieh Shafie’s work, Spike 29, is featured in an institutional exhibition in Australia. Titled SOUL fury – which takes its name from a collection of poetry by 13th century Persian poet Rumi – sixteen female artists with a connection to Islamic heritage, art and cultures have been brought together in an exhibition that challenges colonialism and the patriarchy.

SOUL fury is on view at Bendigo Art Gallery till 24 October 2021.

Image: Hadieh Shafie working in her New York studio in 2021. Courtesy of the artist and Yavuz Gallery, Sydney. Photo: Robert J Fagan