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Art and Environment, Introducing Ahmad Nadalian

Environmental Art is a developing movement in Iran that is mostly followed by the younger generation. Even though, occasionally, economic, political, social and religious issues are illustrated in their works, these artists concentrate for the most part on urgent environmental issues. Iranian artist, Ahmad Nadalian, is a world-famous envoy of the planet Earth who utilizes his art to raise awareness and improve people’s knowledge about environmental issues. His work involves engendering respect for living creatures and the natural environment. To achieve this, besides living with nature himself, he established sculpture grounds in a peaceful environment in natural surroundings. Growing up in a nomadic society, the artist believes to be chosen by nature which captivated him and taught him how to represent what seemed irretrievably lost. Ancient Persian culture and gardens have been a considerable influence on his work. He assumes his most profound influences to be the nomad lifestyle of his ancestors who led a life close to nature and the bas-reliefs dating back to the ancient Iranian civilizations which called upon him to return to nature and be a part of it.

He is internationally famous for his environmental art projects. His work encompasses a large scale of signs from ancient rites and mythologies with creative understandings to those belonging to the present subject matters. For a lot of years, the artist has made different objects or patterns like fish, human figures, hands, feet, birds, goats, crabs, and snakes. Also, he has made symbols of the zodiac, the sun and the moon reminding the viewer that the images are not merely representation of nature but symbolic concepts, which have been created in his homeland and around the globe including Italy, Germany, USA, UK, Spain, France, China, Netherlands, Greece, Russia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Bangladesh, Finland, Lebanon, Syria, Azerbaijan, Sweden, Denmark, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Turkey, Switzerland, and Serbia. Nadalian’s work is mainly related to water flows and tides and utilizes them to have rites be surfaced. He ceremonially carves out fish and other living things in the water on smooth stones found inside and along-side bodies of water. It is a type of Installation Art. Likewise, Nadalian puts other objects under the ground in a lot of unknown places. He is an Earth proponent, a real eco-artist. For many years, the artist has held Environmental Art Festivals on Hormuz Island in the Persian Gulf. Nadalian skilfully re-designs the cylinder seal of the ancient civilizations, once used to print scenes, regularly of religious importance, on slightly wet clay. He honors the living souls of mouse, hedgehog, fish, serpent, crab, and scorpion and desert tree by sealing their pictures onto beaches and deserts that will soon disappear into tide-wash or blur into desert winds.

Of the most significant works of Nadalian is the ritualistic setting free of fish. He sees fish as a metaphor for human beings and believes the sea, the river, and the ocean are the world that surrounds us. We need a clean environment to stay alive. A reason for selecting this symbol is the need of the artist to deliberately return to nature. He ritually carves fish and other water beings on water-smoothed stones, then sets them free in water for future generations to find or not find. This ritual suggests a kind of atonement the artist performs for humanity.

Many of his carvings show the female figure combined with a fish or moon symbol. A repeated subject of Nadalian’s art is Anahita, the ancient goddess of the waters and fertility; which purified the waters and milk of nursing mothers. He has carved her image into many rocks in places united by flowing waters that surround her image. He has painted her on sand using pigments from overlooking cliffs. While the level of water pollution is increasing, the water goddess is a concerned reference to that concept of holiness.

The handprint is one of the earliest testament to the presence of humans in pre-historic times and primitive societies. We can use our hands to captivate the beauty and harmony with nature or to leave the indelible mark of ugliness upon our mother nature. The hand print is usually combined with a simple image of an eye which describes a sort of prayer; a holy communion. The art works which are left for casual visitors to find are regarded as an act of collaboration between the artist and the visitor. What Nadalian intends is for the spectator searching for the art work to perhaps discover something more valuable than his stones in nature; his works will tell the future generations the story of life and humanity.

The rest of this article is published in the 1st volume of Gilgamesh international edition

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