Latent Geometry

Solo Exhibition
Inja Gallery — Tehran, Iran
2019

The spatial aesthetics of a place often function as the visible surface of its cultural and political history. In Iran, plasterwork carries a long lineage, dating back to around 500 BC, shaping architectural space through ornamental systems rooted in symbolic and spiritual geometries.

Historically, these surfaces were sites of imagination and meaning, structured by a hidden order beneath visual multiplicity. In contemporary contexts, however, plasterwork has largely shifted toward mass production, where handcrafted precision is replaced by standardized molds designed for efficiency and repetition.

In this body of work, Barzegar combines reproduced plaster elements with construction techniques learned directly from workers, methods that often stand in contrast to academic sculptural training. This encounter between manual knowledge and institutional instruction becomes a way to examine how meaning is produced, lost, or transformed within material practices.

The work reflects a personal and cultural search: a negotiation between surface and depth, tradition and displacement, and the desire to reconnect with material histories that feel increasingly distant within rapidly changing social landscapes.