Draft:Jinoos Taghizadeh

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Jinoos Taghizadeh (born 1971) is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist, writer, and activist.^[1] Her work spans multiple media and explores political, social, and historical issues, with a particular focus on memory, identity, and communication.^[2][3]: 8 She has exhibited widely in Iran and internationally, and has worked as an artist, writer, and editor. Following the 2022 Iran protests, she emigrated to Canada.^[4]

Life and career

Jinoos Taghizadeh was born in 1971 in Tehran, into a middle-class family. She became interested in art through her sister, Jila Taghizadeh, a writer and painter, and by attending art classes led by Morteza Momayez, Qobad Shiva, and Yahya Dehghanpour. She began her artistic training in graphic design, illustration, and puppet theatre in the mid-1980s, receiving a diploma in graphic design from Azadegan High School in 1988. She later studied dramatic literature at the Art College of the Cultural Heritage Organization before shifting her focus to sculpture.^[1] She graduated from the University of Tehran's Faculty of Fine Arts in 2000.^[5]

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Taghizadeh worked in performance, installation, and video art, and became active in Iran's contemporary art scene. She has also worked as a writer, editor, and art critic, and has published several books including Non-Dubliners, Letters I Never Wrote, and Memories I Never Had. Her work has been exhibited in Iran and internationally, including at venues such as the Whitechapel Gallery, MAXXI Museum, and Wiesbaden Kunsthalle.^[6] Taghizadeh was a regular member of the editorial team of Mojasameh (title translates to "Sculpture"), one of the most influential magazines in the Iranian art scene in the early 2000s.^[7] She served on the jury of the Sixth Tehran National Sculpture Biennial in 2011.^[8] From 2012 to 2019, she served as editor-in-chief of the fine art section at Aftab Network Journal in Iran.^[9] She was also a member of the editorial board of the bilingual online journal Tehran Avenue from 2001 to 2009.^[10] Since 2023, she has served as visual art editor in Hafteh art & culture in Toronto.^[11]

Artistic practice

Taghizadeh works in painting, collage, video, performance, and installation.^[12] Her work has been described as part of a tradition of oppositional art.^[3]: 8 Much of her practice is process-based and takes the form of temporary, site-specific interventions in public spaces.^{[3]: 158–159}  She has explored themes including censorship, everyday life, and the experiences of women in contemporary Iran through metaphor and symbolic imagery.^[12][13] Narrative and text are recurring elements in her work. She incorporates written materials such as newspaper columns, dictionary entries, book pages, handwritten text and postage stamps into her projects.^{[14][3] : 16}

In Letters I Never Wrote, she reworked official Iranian postage stamps to highlight overlooked aspects of Iran's history under the Islamic Republic. In this work, Taghizadeh printed images of political assassinations, suppressed individuals and groups, and neglected environmental and cultural heritage on the reverse of official Iranian postage stamps, challenging their role as symbols of national identity and collective memory.^[15][16]

Her mixed-media project Rock, Paper, Scissors, produced around the 30th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution, similarly examines the disparity between the revolution's promises and its outcomes. The project combines Farsi-language newspaper reports with imagery from Western art history, including works by Hieronymus Bosch, Pieter Bruegel the Elder, and Jacques-Louis David. Through these visual and textual juxtapositions, it presents an alternative to official historical narratives.^[17] The work was accompanied by a video depicting a baby in a cradle set to a revolutionary anthem, emphasizing themes of lost innocence, censorship, and political disillusionment.^[18]

Since the 2010s, Taghizadeh has developed a series of works centered on whales, inspired by the 52-hertz whale. In interviews, she has described the 52-hertz whale as a solitary whale whose calls are not known to be answered by other whales. She uses the whale as a metaphor for marginalization and unheard voices.^[19] This motif appears in projects such as Have You Heard Anything?, a series of large-scale digital drawings displayed on illuminated lightboxes that inserted monumental whale forms into historically and culturally charged urban sites in Iranian cities. She has further explored the theme through site-specific installations, including a large cross-hatched whale drawn across the vaulted ceiling of a historic house in Kashan.^[1][19]

Activism

In addition to her artistic practice, Taghizadeh has been involved in environmental and human rights-related activism. Her work has been described as intersecting with protest art and civil engagement, particularly in relation to conditions affecting artists and civil society in Iran. Following the 2022 Iran protests (Woman, Life, Freedom movement), she left Iran and relocated to Canada. Since then, she has continued to participate in public discussions, artistic programs, and advocacy initiatives related to artistic freedom and political repression.^[20]

List of artworks

Revoloution Diary (2022), series of drawings and handwritings, Museum Ulm, Germany.^[21]

Jonas/Jinoos Room (2021), drawing installation in a historic building in Kashan, Iran.^[22][23]

Have You Heard Anything? (2020–2022), a series of digital drawings presented on illuminated light boxes; first exhibited in Isfahan, Iran.^[24][19]

The Smell of Lilly and Jasmine (2019), a twelve-hour olfactory installation; presented on 1 February 2019 in a solo exhibition at Hinterland Gallery, Vienna, to mark the 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution.^[25]

Non-Dubliners (2018), an artist's book designed as a colouring book for adults, developed during her residency at the Royal Hibernian Academy and published with support from Avolon Aviation; the work reflects an outsider's perspective on Dublin, referencing Dubliners.^[26]

Open Wiring (2015), a multi-media, three-floor site-specific installation incorporating drawings, video, sculpture, sound, and found documents; presented at O Gallery, Tehran, Iran.^[27]

Titus Andronicus (2015), a three-hour video artwork drawing inspiration from William Shakespeare's play; the work traverses five locations in Tehran associated with violence against citizens, including Evin political prison and Lot 41 at Behesht Zahra Cemetery, where Mojahedin and leftist political activists are buried in unmarked graves.^[28]

In particular, In spring (2014), with Nikzad Nojumi; exhibited March 2025, Toronto, Canada.^[29][30]

Velvet Ghaba (2011), performance and installation project in Tehran, Iran.^[31]

Fatness upon Fatness–100 (2010), video work depicting a cake printed with an aerial image of Tehran being gradually consumed, accompanied by a voiceover addressing obesity, depression, and self-destruction.^[32][33]

Rock, Paper, Scissors (2009), a series of lenticular prints (holograms) that shift with viewer movement, exploring changing perspectives on history; exhibited at Aran Gallery, Tehran, Iran.^[34][35]

Letters I Never Wrote (2008), digital print on the reverse of official postage stamps (9.3 × 6.7 cm).^[16][36]

Messages (2006), a ten-minute video work structured as three answering-machine-style recordings, interspersed with black-and-white footage of Tehran and audio suggesting physical distress.^[37]

Unfinished Puberty (since 2004), an ongoing conceptual series consisting of embroidered sanitary pads displayed in ornate frames.^[19][38]

A Performance to Forugh (2004), a conceptual street performance in Tehran honoring the poet Forugh Farrokhzad, in which the artist pasted poetry and images along a route to Zahir od-Dowleh Cemetery^[12][39]

Abureyhan Self-Portraits (2004), a multidisciplinary project named after Abureyhan Street in Tehran, reflecting the artist's living conditions at the time^[40]

The Café Konj Performances (2003), a series of eight performance works presented at Café Konj, Tehran, Iran.^[41]

Oblation (Nazr) (2003), site-specific performance in Naghsh-e Jahan Square, Isfahan, Iran.^{[3]: 158 [12][39]}

References