A standalone painting is a micro narrative and relays what the society seeks today; a way to explain ourselves and find relationship to the rest of the society. In micro narratives there is diversity of believes, aspirations and desires. As world continues to lose faith in metanarratives the micro narratives push forward, particularly with advance of internet and connectivity and the amazing use of social media by a great number of populace who are determined to leave their mark on the world.
Manijeh Hejazi’s choice of painting from her family photographs is a repetitive compulsion, a re-living of certain moments in life. By re shaping actual images recorded by a camera, this young artist creates a passage through the barrier of time, the past is now. The medium of painting is used to create new imagery and make the memories more tangible. A conscious choice for blending the past and the present, building a bridge between the force and actuality of the past with the perception that there is a freedom of choice in present time.
Painting on found pieces of wood and using old window bars and by leaving certain surfaces of wood untouched, artist designs a spacing that allows the viewer to reach a transient point between the past and the present. The background of wood as a once living thing that has traveled through the span of time, becomes a terrain for the flow of the imagery that stares back from past.
In these recreated instances we find small realities of life, between what it is and what might have been, between reality and perception of it. Narratives that are neither grand nor insignificant, and well worth visiting.