The Mine has organised Resonant Turns, a solo exhibition by Iranian-American artist Hadieh Shafie, whose work blurs the lines between drawing, painting, and sculpture. This show delves into the materiality of language, repetition, and motion, showcasing a selection of Shafie’s intricate text-based coloured pencil drawings. Resonant Turns is taking place at Warehouse 46 (Alserkal Avenue) and will be open to the public until 21 April 2025.
Shafie’s works on view examine the interplay of form and pattern, using semantics as a lens to explore visual meaning in both personal and political contexts. Her compositions evoke sound waves, ripples, and rhythmic movement, aligning with the exhibition’s meditation on transience and trance.
About the artist
Hadieh Shafie (b. 1969, Tehran, Iran), who resides in the USA, obtained two MFAs: one in Imaging and Digital Arts from the University of Maryland (Baltimore, USA) and another in Painting from Pratt Institute (Brooklyn, USA).
At the core of Shafie’s practice is a devotion to rhythm and process. Working with ink, paint, and paper, she constructs sculptural reliefs from scrolls, often circular or cone-shaped, inscribed with handwritten and printed Farsi poetry alongside her texts. These scrolls are meticulously cut, rotated, and arranged to create optical compositions that transcend language and resonate on a visual and emotional level. Shafie’s work channels text as energy, colour as emotion, and repetition as a spiritual gesture.
Shafie has showcased her creations in numerous exhibitions across the world, including Within These Pages (solo) (Yavuz Gallery Sydney, Australia, 2022); Contemporary Art of the Middle East (LACMA, Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2016); and touring Jameel Prize Exhibition (Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University, CA; Art 13, London, UK; Galerie Kashya Hildebrand, Zurich, Switzerland), among others. Her artworks are in many esteemed public collections, such as the Dubai Collection, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the V&A Museum.
Shafie was nominated for the Anonymous Was A Woman Prize in 2017 and shortlisted for the Jameel Prize in 2011. She is the recipient of grants from the Franz and Virginia Bader Fund (2011), the Mary Sawyers Baker Award from the William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund (2009), and the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant (2008).
She was nominated for the Anonymous Was A Woman Award in 2017 and was a finalist for the Jameel Prize in 2011. Her accolades also include grants from the Franz and Virginia Bader Fund (2011), the Mary Sawyers Baker Award from the William G. Baker Jr. Memorial Fund (2009), and the Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Grant (2008).
To get more information about Resonant Turns, please go to the official web page of the exhibition.
In addition, you might be interested in exploring O Chimera, O Chimera, Bita Fayyazi’s solo show, and Unraveling by Huda Lutfi.
