Featured Artist: Nadia Malekian: Ground Floor Gallery

Let us Believe in the Ruin of Imaginary Gardens

Let us Believe in the Ruin of Imaginary Gardens is a solo exhibition by Nadia Malekian. It is an exploration in uncovering memories from her trips to the city of Rasht, Iran, through the medium of screenprint. This body of work anchors around a doorway to a 19th century hammam, the intricately patterned tiles around it, and the shadows and forms of the surrounding streets. Textile design and the movement of fabric itself have informed the work, both in the adopted proportions and ‘woven’ compositions.  All of the works are unique prints driven by the screen printing process to allow for experimentation and new discoveries where layers, colours, forms and patterns intersect. The resulting work is representative of vivid reimagined memories, from these formative trips to a place that is integral to her identity.

The title of this exhibition is taken from a poem by the influential Iranian poet and film director Forugh Farrokhzad. The poem is bittersweet, expressing the conflict between hopeful memories and a melancholic future.

Nadia Malekian graduated from the Mackintosh School of Architecture in 2018 and qualified as an Architect in 2021. She became a member of Glasgow Print Studio in 2019, after undertaking screenprinting courses in an effort to continue exploring a creative practice after her studies. These courses inspired her love of printmaking, which she has been balancing alongside her career as an architect ever since. She has exhibited at the RGI Kelly Gallery and at the GPS Members Christmas show, and this is her first featured artist exhibition at Glasgow Print Studio. She is of part Iranian heritage, which, along with her interest in the disciplines of architecture and textile design, is naturally reflected in her work.