Tirdad Hashemi & Soufia Erfanian

Jair Lanes

Venue

Museum of Contemporary Art of Lyon (macLyon)

Lyon

Born in 1991 in Tehran, Iran
Born in 1990 in Mashhad, Iran
Live and work in Berlin, Germany

The work I have lit up a candle for each of your pains comprises six panels which, when assembled, form the model of a house, the parallelepiped plan of which is drawn on the upper canvas. In the centre, the two artists are shown seated at their table, discussing personal matters that are usually left unspoken in their respective families. On either side, they have depicted the courtyard of their studio, a place of residence for artists in exile and a metaphor for home. In place of the roof, they have painted a sky — symbol of openness and hope — in which the glow of the stars echoes that of the lit candles on the lower panel, which represent their sorrows and suffering. Although Tirdad Hashemi and Soufia Erfanian feel like strangers wherever they are, they have found refuge in their painting and through it been able to make a home for themselves.