Sheida Soleimani is an Iranian-American artist who lives in Providence, USA. Utilising photography, film, performance, collage and sculpture, her practice sits at the intersection of art and activism, informed by her own experiences as the daughter of political refugees exiled from Iran in the early 1980s.

Soleimani’s research focuses on the history of photography and world events; specifically, how the construction and circulation of images has shaped the landscape of global socio-politics and the West’s historic relationship to the Middle East. Often drawing on found images from the press and social media, Soleimani restages photography in complex constructed sets within her studio, adapting and abstracting their original context into subversive sculptural or collage works which provide a critical perspective on international relations and government power dynamics.

Interrogating the concept of ‘truth’ in imagery, Soleimani’s satirical visual language highlights the coded way in which political messages are disseminated globally; her grotesque, patchworked images represent a metaphor for the blundering nature of government relations and chaotic international communication. These constructed photographs of figures and objects, against collaged backdrops, critically engage with geopolitics often exposing the deeply concealed and networks that shape policy and the lives we live.

This photograph pays homage to Mahsa Amini, and features a hand holding a white hijab on fire, its backdrop inverted images of Amini’s brain scans. The image was used in the 2022 exhibition ‘Eyes on Iran’, displayed outside the UN office in Manhattan.