Leila Heller Gallery is hosting Stories in Thousand Pieces, a solo exhibition by Iranian-Egyptian artist and poet Parinaz Eleish Gharagozlou. On view until 1 March 2025, this show displays her mesmerising mixed-media artworks, which blend memory, storytelling, and political discourse into intricate visual mosaics.
Gharagozlou’s art delves into life’s complexities, interweaving fragments of laughter, pain, memory, and hope. From a distance, her large-scale canvases offer striking architectural forms and landscapes. Up close, they reveal a constellation of tiny, individual elements, each telling its own story and inviting intimate reflection.
According to Gharagozlou, mixed media allows her to construct reality from numerous fragments. “The stories continue beyond the border of the canvas,” she says. Newspapers, a recurring motif in her work, serve as witnesses and manipulators of history, reflecting the nuanced relationship between memory and time.
Taking cues from daily life, Gharagozlou infuses her paintings with an acute awareness of shared human experiences. The fragments she employs, such as shards of glass or textured layers of paint, symbolise the interconnectedness of people, places, and moments, forming a visual tapestry that speaks to themes of resilience, identity, and transformation.
About the artist
Parinaz Eleish Gharagozlou, based in Boston (MA, USA), was born in Tehran (Iran) and lived there until high school. She later completed her diploma in Switzerland before moving to the USA. She earned a BFA in Film Production and Painting from Emerson College and the Museum of Fine Arts in 1981, followed by two MFAs: one in Film Production from Boston University (1983) and another in English Writing and Poetry from the University of New Hampshire (1992).
Gharagozlou’s career spans various fields, including film production roles at independent studios in Boston and as a film and media coordinator at the French Library and Cultural Center. In 1993, she returned to Tehran and founded Samarkand a Faux Real Co., specialising in decorative faux finish painting. In 1996, she moved back to the USA, launching Damascus Dreams, a jewellery design studio focused on ancient beads, before dedicating herself fully to painting. Gharagozlou has also published poetry in English and recently released a novel in Farsi.
The artist has displayed her creations in different exhibitions and art events, such as Art Dubai 2024; The Storyteller (Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai, 2023); Volta Art Faire New York 2022; and Twilight Memories (solo) (Etemad Negarestan Gallery, Iran, 2018); and Web of Trees (Khaki Gallery, Boston, MA, 2012), to name a few.
To get more information about Stories in Thousand Pieces, please go to the official web page of the show.
In addition, you might be interested in exploring Four Birds and One Soul, a solo exhibition by Turkish artist Melis Buyruk. We also recommend that you visit Where Gesture Meets Story – Recent Art from the Yes Collection, a group show at the Arts Club Dubai.
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