Sanam Khatibi: With tenderness and longing

The work of the Iranian-Belgian artist Sanam Khatibi (°1976, Tehran) explores power structures and primary instincts which are situated on the divide between human and animal. In her paintings, embroidery, tapestries and ceramic sculptures she questions our relationship to excess, loss of control, dominance, submission, and the male-female relationship.

The female figure takes central stage in Khatibi’s work. The artist calls these figures ‘nymphs’, and portrays them naked in Arcadian landscapes. The male figure in these colorful, idyllic landscapes is represented by animals – deer, crocodiles, snakes or lions. The relationship between these male animals and the nude female figures often is one of power: the animals are being ridden or skinned, or make bestial love to the women at night.

Curated by artlead / Thomas Caron
In collaboration with All Things Contemporary
Installation photography: Michiel De Cleene

Billboard Series is a long-term art project in public space, for which every three months an artist is invited to create a new, site-specific work for a 50 m2 billboard on Dok Noord, Ghent. Through changing presentations, Billboard Series wants to build a sustainable and productive dialogue with the surrounding neighbourhood and urban landscape, reflect on the changes that this neighbourhood is currently undergoing, and introduce a broad audience to different visual languages and ways of looking at the world.