Self as Archive:
Fragments in a Persian Mirror

Mahdi Mahdian’s work explores the evolving role of self-portraiture as both a reflection of identity and a means of reconstructing it. Born in Iran, Mahdi came of age in a society where national identity, masculinity, and tradition were both deeply ingrained and constantly contested. Trained in the realism tradition at the University of Tehran and later in Ukraine, his practice has shifted from Classical Russian Academism to a more contemporary, expressive visual language—one that engages with themes of displacement, memory, and the fluidity of selfhood. 

This exhibition presents a series of large-scale, narrative self-portraits that interrogate what it means to be a contemporary Persian man, both at home and in exile. Through allegorical compositions, fragmented imagery, and layered mark-making, Mahdian’s paintings negotiate the tensions between personal and historical narratives. His work reflects on the impact of migration, shifting cultural landscapes, and the reexamination of masculinity in the wake of socio-political change, particularly in response to recent women-led movements in Iran. 

Drawing from both classical and contemporary influences, Mahdian’s paintings blur the boundaries between personal mythologies and collective histories. By situating his own body as both subject and site of transformation, he challenges traditional constructs of identity, presenting a self that is in flux—caught between past and present, belonging and otherness, loss and renewal.