Elham Bayati, My Caspian Sea
2019, mixed media on canvas, 24” x 24”, Lost Homeland series
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Bayati immigrated to earn her MFA from Columbus College of Art + Design. This series, Lost Homeland, was created immediately after Bayati earned her degree and the future was a blank canvas. Addressing the intention with which she left her homeland, Iran, Bayati here processes the complex experience of loss as the result of deliberate departure. Integrating Iranian symbolism - a lion, flowers, patterns - and faint imagery of women, Bayati reflects on her immigration journey, feeling both the loss of the past and the uncertainty of the future.
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Bayati’s work explores the layered experience of women in society across cultures. Largely experiential, Bayati presents her own emotions navigating patriarchal Iran through traditional Persian motifs – vibrant hues, gold accents, and floral patterns. Fabric references domestic work and is collaged with printed materials, photographs, and layered painting to present a reconciliation of past, present, and future. Rich, colorful Persian heritage, contemporary Iranian distress, and Bayati’s current life in Columbus blend to present the combination of dark and light which colors so much of modern life.
