Artist: Farkhondeh Shahroudi

“Widerruf” (Revocation) is the first solo exhibition by the German-Iranian artist and poet Farkhondeh Shahroudi at Galerie Barbara Thumm. As the title suggests, the exhibition responds to an uncertain era in which everything can be revoked at any moment – from ceasefires and social infrastructure to human rights and international law. At the same time, the revocation of old ideas or ideologies opens up space for new ways of thinking.

Shahroudi, born in Tehran in 1962 and studied painting there, took part in the revolution against the Shah as a young woman and fled into exile in Germany with her son in 1990. In Dortmund, she studied design and art. Over the course of more than 30 years, she has developed a complex body of work that has increasingly moved away from painting and operates at the boundaries of visual art, poetry, theatre and activism. Her works include drawings as well as woven, stuffed and embroidered sculptures, alongside banners, flags, blankets, installations, performances, processions and photography.

Whilst Shahroudi’s works and performances are closely linked to forms of protest, activism or ritual, “Widerruf” focuses on the lyrical, deconstructed grammar that has permeated her work for years, becoming ever more refined whilst at the same time growing rawer, more material and more vulnerable. Everything in Shahroudi’s cosmos is based on language, poetry and words.