The Ocean Can Be Yours

About

The Ocean Can Be Yours, an exhibition by Gerald Moore Gallery curated by Janet Rady at Eltham College, showcases Persian culture and its merged visual art and linguistic practice via the interpretation of international poetry through the lens of four Iranian artists. Afsoon, Ghalamdar, Jason Noushin and Katayoun Rouhi explore a tradition rooted in their shared heritage and use it as the launch platform for diverse practices spanning performance and Calligraffiti to drawing and allegorical painting.

Featuring a sound installation from Afsoon that encourages viewer activation, visitors can also see Ghalamdar’s deconstruction of Iranian folklore and history through his “wild-style” Calligraffiti street art style, translated prose is laid on top of and within tactile sculptural collage by Noushin, as well as Rouhi’s metaphysical, scientific drawings inspired by Sufi poetry, from which the exhibition’s title is taken. Each artist manipulates poetry and visual art to present subtle, complex messages that reveal the delicate balance between the visual lightness of text and the heaviness of embedded symbolism and cultural tradition, embodying a dichotomy between what is visible and what is hidden in reference Iranian philosophical trains of thought.