Yosra Mojtahedi, artiste iranienne passée de la peinture à de stupéfiantes sculptures vivantes
Yosra Mojtahedi, an Iranian artist born in 1986, has transitioned from painting to creating stunning living sculptures. Her work, characterized by black and white contrasts, features sculptures that breathe, have hair, and incorporate torn tights and synthetic locks, evoking themes of identity, censorship, and bodily autonomy. She recently presented a spectacular installation titled "Isthme noir" at the Espace Monte-Cristo in Paris and an exhibition at the Abbaye de Maubuisson, where her spiritual universe unfolds across multiple rooms. Mojtahedi's practice includes sound elements in Persian or Kurdish, and she views her sculptures as "bodies" that are both intimate and political.
This matters because Mojtahedi's work directly confronts the repressive context of her native Iran, where she was denied entry to a Tehran biennale and participated in a counter-exhibition reminiscent of the 1863 Salon des Refusés. Her art transforms black—the color of censorship in Iran—into a medium of resistance and self-expression. By weaving her own hair with synthetic strands and using torn tights as metaphors for wounds and fleeting desire, she creates a powerful visual language that speaks to identity, gender, and political oppression. Her trajectory from a secret studio in Iran to major French institutions highlights the global resonance of art born under authoritarian constraints.