The Shipwrecked
In 2017, I began sketching the initial concepts for this collection. Unable to afford a studio, I crafted the small wax models for this collection in a tiny room at home. Despite feeling hopeless, I knew I had to persevere. I recalled Mr. Parviz Tanavoli’s words about working at a kitchen table during his early years in Canada, and reminded myself that reality doesn’t always match expectations. Every day, I tried to postpone the disparaging “So what?” question, yet I frequently asked myself “What are you doing?”
The first time I read Stephen Crane’s The Open Boat, I was struck by how closely we resemble its characters. The story begins with four individuals stranded in a small lifeboat, adrift in the sea. We don’t know how they ended up there, but they are clearly weary and despondent survivors struggling to stay alive. Taking turns, they row tirelessly to reach safety. Their focus is on survival, yet their minds are as restless as the waves. The sea, however, rises mercilessly and relentlessly against them, as Crane so beautifully wrote:
“A singular disadvantage of the sea lies in the fact that after successfully surmounting one wave, you discover another behind it just as important and just as nervously anxious to do something effective in the way of swamping boats.”
This stark and relatable depiction of the sea reflects an unwritten truth about life: every time we overcome an obstacle, another of equal difficulty inevitably follows.
The works in this collection are the product of the conscious and unconscious collaboration of many individuals. Friends and acquaintances, some I have met, and others I haven’t. Some gathered paper for me (the technique used in the larger pieces is papier-mâché, created with recycled paper). Others made Ecobricks. [1] Friends visited my studio, leaving traces of themselves, while others inspired me with their works. Some pieces are an interpretation of works by earlier artists. These ranged from iconic works in art history to short stories and even random photographs I found online.
While working on this collection, I encountered strange and unexpected life events. Many times, I wondered who these fragmented, dismembered, and faceless bodies were and why they had taken such forms. Then, while reading Irvin Yalom’s Existential Psychotherapy, I came across a revealing sentence:
- The artist’s work, mathematician, geneticist, or novelist, reveals their essence.
In hindsight, I am astonished to see traces of my own life within figures of this collection. Whether as artists or engaged in other life pursuits, sometimes we need to deeply reflect on our experiences to uncover new dimensions about ourselves and our lives. Alongside creating this collection, I, Farzaneh Hosseini, navigated a challenging period in my life…
Farzaneh
Winter 2025
[1]* Ecobricks are plastic bottles filled with non-recyclable plastic, repurposed as sustainable building blocks.
