Khashayar Salmanzadeh

Love: Beyond Emotion

Utilising portraiture, the project seeks to explore the spiritual reality of love and its significance in contemporary society. These portraits challenge society’s materialization of love and express it rather as a spiritual quality with the power to nurture, as a force that while radiated outwardly simultaneously engulfs and consumes the self, and as an instrument that attracts and unifies human souls. The large-scale canvas portraits are of members of the Baháʼí community in Perth, a world religion originating in 19th century Persia that aims to promote the oneness of mankind , and employs symbols and motifs from the Faith to explore this spiritual reality. In this respect, the works blend realistic representations with abstracted figures to raise insights into the spiritual, intangible nature of love. This project further contributes to the concept of the spiritual self as explored by artists Abdul Abdullah, Cristina Troufa and Hossein Valamanesh who’s works have shared lenses that are either autobiographical, rooted in mystic poetry or drawing on the experiences of minorities. In this regard, this upcoming body of work seeks to raise insights into the various powers of love and reconceptualise its identity as a significant spiritual force in contemporary society.