12.12.2023: Forty Women, Forty Fishes

12.12.2023
Ghazal Ashrafian

The brick facade of a tower made me think that maybe forty girls wanted to be free. I was inspired to paint the number forty with forty salmons.

This painting was inspired by the tomb of Forty Girls, in the city of Damghan in my country, Iran, and is related to the 5th century A.H. This work was registered on January 15, 1310 with the registration number 83 as one of the national works of Iran. Damghan Tower of Forty Daughters was built so skillfully that it has remained without any damage to show the art and skill of the architects of its time. This beautiful tower dates back to the Seljuk period.
This beautiful tower, which is nearly 1000 years old, it is one of the few towers that has remained completely intact during many years and natural disasters.
It has very beautiful and eye-catching brick decorations. I was very impressed. And there I wanted to paint forty girls. Forty fishes are the same as forty women. Because it is the right of women to be free like fishes. This painting is a combination of reality and imagination of the artist. In the forty girls, there is an inscription written in Kufic script, and decorative brick strips are placed above and below it. Finally, it has a cone-shaped dome that is placed on this tomb and its brickwork is simple. The bricks of Chehl Dokhtar Tower are placed on top of each other so skillfully and delicately that it is as if no mortar was used in its construction.
This brick facade made me think that maybe forty girls wanted to be free. I was inspired to paint the number forty with forty salmons.

Ghazal's work includes a larger concentration of women from her home country, Iran. She is therefore an important voice when it comes to the liberation and equalisation of women. Her works are lyrical, interwoven with the past, forward-looking, modern, sensitive and strong. She has participated in many important exhibitions in 2023 and is recognised as an important artist in Austria, Iran and the world.

 

Yay! We have the winner of the day! S.K. will receive a pencil set, 12 pencils, from LYRA REMBRANDT®.