Paintings and installation investigating how the self is formed and perceived by Iranian painter Nava Sabet-Imani. Sabet-Imani studied painting at the Faculty of Art and Architecture at Islamic Azad University in Tehran. She also holds a master’s degree in Agricultural Engineering, with a specialization in medicinal plants. Sabet-Imani’s artistic practice is concerned with how identity, images, and forms are shaped through repetition, juxtaposition, and transformation. Having grown up with a twin sister, her work incorporates personal experience and reflections on the tension between resemblance and difference, and on how identity is formed through acts of comparison. Through shifts in scale, framing, and visual structure, her paintings invite viewers to reconsider how forms are perceived and what they might become.

“Parts of the body, such as hands and faces, which often belong to women, are placed alongside one another; as if they have been added or removed, as though each work has taken shape through a series of edits. These forms may appear similar to one another, yet remain distinct, creating a space for doubt. This juxtaposition and repetition are connected to the concept of ‘display’ as a conscious state of being seen. The forms are not merely present in the image, but are placed in a position where they can actually be seen. From this perspective, ‘display’ becomes something artificial—not in its common negative sense of something engineered and controlled, but in the sense of something consciously shaped to be seen. In this series, seeing is an inseparable element of the work, and repetition makes possible a dialogue that goes beyond resemblance.”

Nava Sabet-Imani shared this project with us via the Submissions section.