Hadi Alijani

Hadi Alijani reimagines Persian artistic heritage through a contemporary lens, blending historical motifs with personal and everyday imagery to forge a visual language rooted in Iran’s rich painting traditions. His compositions draw inspiration from Qajar-era visual culture—particularly portraiture and still-life—infused with surreal elements, vegetal forms, and subtly grotesque figures to explore identity, memory, and cultural hybridity. Working primarily in acrylic on canvas, Alijani’s paintings present compressed, floating forms—fruits, plants, creatures—arranged across improbable interiors or landscapes that unsettle spatial logic. This visual lexicon functions as a “contact zone” where Eastern and Western perspectives collide, creating poetic narratives of displacement and nostalgia. Through rich patterning and unexpected juxtapositions—such as exotic flora alongside architectural details—he evokes both contemplative stillness and uncanny presence, inviting viewers to experience history anew. Alijani’s practice is deeply reflective: his meditative compositions reconstruct personal and cultural memories, positioning still-life as a tool for questioning modern identity and the flow between past and present. ...