Capturing a moment past and present: ‘Rebel Rebel’ at the Barbican

“Let Us Believe in the Beginning of the Cold Season” (Portrait of Forough Farrokhzad), 2022
© Soheila Sokhanvari/Kristin Hjellegjerde Gallery

Artist Soheila Sokhanvari’s intricate miniatures of 27 feminist icons from pre-revolutionary (1979) Iran are painted in egg tempera onto calf vellum with a squirrel-hair brush, set against a hand-painted mural and to the soft sound of singers Googoosh & co. to form a hugely immersive site-specific installation at the Barbican’s Curve Gallery.

The Curve cocoons us in the world of these strong women of history: writers and poets, singers and actors.

See my full review here.