The Digital Gallery: Of the Muted Flowers

The Digital Gallery is proud to present Of the Muted Flowers by Shahroud Ghahani from 10 October to 7 November 2023.

Of the Muted Flowers is a visual, emotional, and sensory compilation of images and text, which reflects on identity, cultural memory, and the artist’s fragmentary connection to an imaginary homeland.  While this­ work is personal, it invites the viewer to engage with symbols and ideas related to themes of cultural isolation and alienation that can be felt collectively by diasporic communities across the world. 

In the confusion and chaos of words lost in translation, the silence of flowers is symbolic – it can provide solace when all the other ways of communication are closed. One can find comfort by recognising and contemplating species of flowers from faraway lands.

The hazy artworks in the series aim to convey the sense of weightlessness and the experience of tumbling into the unknown, whereas the surrealist artworks are allegorical and are destined for the viewer’s interpretation. Images from the artist’s personal archive are juxtaposed with colour studies and poetry in different languages.

Shahroud Ghahani is an Iranian-Australian inter-disciplinary artist based on Gadigal land. Her artworks bridge together rich images from disparate cultures and her experiences of them.  She holds a Master of Art from the University of New South Wales, Art, Design and Architecture and has had her work exhibited in galleries across Sydney.

Her practice explores representations of female archetypes and themes of beauty, the grotesque, and identity within Eastern and Western traditions. Her art is also inspired by explorations of metaphysical subjects. She interweaves dreamscapes, liminal and imaginary spaces, displaced objects, and allegorical imagery.

Shahroud is currently a resident artist at the Primrose Park Art Studio a program managed by North Sydney Council.