Nastaran Shirinsokhan

Images may have the latent power to reconstruct what has been lost or censored. By recounting moments that are accessible only through memory, they transcend the limits of the mind to bear witness to what remains hidden or unspoken.

Shaped by her experience as a woman born and raised in Iran, the artist conceives of female identity as a constant dialogue between the visible and the hidden, a field of tension between the public sphere and self-preservation. This reflection centres on her mother’s wedding photographs, taken when she was just sixteen years old, which have remained hidden until now. By precisely removing the photosensitive layer between the paper and the ink, the artist performs a deliberate act of revelation. This selective deconstruction is not an expression of anger, but a silent form of resistance and commemoration; a gesture that links the act of ‘erasure’ with a new presence and leaves the image’s narrative in the blank space.

Nastaran Shirinsokhan (born 1994, Iran) has been living and working in Germany as a visual artist since 2022. After completing a bachelor’s degree in painting at the University of Tehran in Iran, she went on to obtain a master’s degree in fine art under Professor Katharina Hinsberg and Professor Eric Lanz at the Saar College of Fine Arts in Saarbrücken. Her artistic practice takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining painting, photography and installation. In her works, she explores the relationship between female identity, the body, resilience, and personal and cultural memory. Her works have been exhibited internationally and nominated for various awards.

Exhibition views © Cité de l'image / Hype / CAL