Work by Farrin Abbas Zadeh, a fellow in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC), is on display through December 18, 2013 in the CGIS Knafel Concourse Gallery in an exhibit co-sponsored by NELC and CMES. The Harvard Gazette interviewed Abbas Zadeh about her work:
An adjunct professor at the Rhode Island School of Design, Abbas Zadeh credits nature as her primary artistic inspiration. “I grew up on a farm, so nature is in my blood,” she said. [...]
Her artwork echoes traditional Persian design, but the meanings are wholly her own. Abbas Zadeh is big on symbolism — her research at Harvard focuses on “how nature becomes art, the meaning of symbols and the origin of those symbols, and how they travel through different religions and cultures” — and her artwork depicts dreams, love, and life using mostly flowers, figures, and nature-based symbols.
“When I close my eyes, I remember my grandfather’s farm and lying down under the trees, and still I can feel the coolness seeping into my body,” she said.