Internal Echoes: Five Decades: Nahid Hagigat

Nahid studied art at Tehran University, before continuing her education at NYU. It was here that she discovered the printmaking studio, where she learnt the processes of etching and aquatint that came to be essential to her artistic practice. Her move to New York in 1968, a drastic and exhilarating adjustment, brought with it a desire to record and capture her memories of home. Using photographs that her sister sent her from Tehran, she began creating works that depicted scenes of everyday life in Iran, of women, children and workers. Printmaking offered a seamless way of blending photographic imagery with hand crafted marks, aptly symbolising Hagigat’s synthesis of factual history with personal experience. The subsequent prolific period of her practice culminated in numerous solo exhibitions of her work in Tehran; she was one of the first artists to bring the medium of printmaking and etching to the Iranian art scene.

Much of Nahid Hagigat’s work utilizes the creation of her own iconography- we see simple images that symbolise more complex stories, sometimes personal and autobiographical whilst also open to interpretation. Hagigat explains that the meaning of her work is not a devised plan to recount a specific idea or dictate a preconceived belief, rather an intuitive expression and interpretation of her world, the life that she lives and the lives that she witnesses. There is an emotive purity to her work, that is only truly possible when an artist is able to create from such a place of truth and vulnerability. The feminist interpretations of her work are simply a result of her ability to capture life as she sees it. Women are strong, and each person holds their own unique power and individuality; this is not necessarily a political statement, but a fact of life.

The intuitive urge to create, and absorption with the lives of the people in Iran was an instinctive decision, a natural outcome of her existence. In the 1970’s her artwork focused on the experience of women within the patriarchy, and the impact this had on her personally. The decade concluded with the Iranian revolution of 1979, which resulted in an unforeseen demise of women’s rights. This ongoing injustice makes her works as poignant as ever. Hagigat’s compassionate beliefs surrounding freedom and truth emanate through her work. ‘The Key’ (1978) uses minimalistic imagery signalling the idea of unlocking the truth and untangling oneself from oppression. Her evocative portrayals of the female figure through a feminist lens were among the first of the time. The powerful imagery of ‘Women in Red’ (1975), and ‘Kurdish Women’ (1975) exemplify just a glimpse of the works that Hagigat produced during this period. Repeated silhouettes graduating between the women’s outer appearance to a linear form filled with vibrant colour, is a powerful suggestion of the energy and light that these women hold within.

Since the 70’s, the subject matter of her work has evolved through many different visual stages, yet there is a connective tissue that runs through it all. From figurative scenes of life in Iran and New York, to minimalistic details of bare trees, hands reaching out towards glasses of water, still lives of flowers and plants, we feel her presence and strength of character throughout. Making artwork always remained a source of energy and excitement for Hagigat, whether creating out of a period of pain and uncertainty, or a period of light and clarity, she infuses a sense of hope and resilience into her work.

In recent years, Hagigat has revisited her work from decades past, giving them a new life on canvas, such as ‘Fire’ (2014), an acrylic painting derived from her previous photo etching ‘Hand and Glass’, (1976). The fervently drawn red marks of the etching have evolved into a more literal version of flames. Her experimentative use of her own archive of work gives us a sense of history, as the new works form a dialogue with the past, causing us to question the ways in which the times have changed, or lack thereof. The cup contains something in it that you want, something vital that you yearn for, symbolising desire and truth.

‘Long way to go’ (2023), one of the artist’s more recent works within this exhibition, is a triptych depicting her granddaughter whilst on a trip Hagigat took with her family to LA. She is swimming in the ocean, there is an impression of joy, but on further reflection she seems lost, and the title brings you back to the sombre realisation of how far we have to go in the fight for women’s rights. Joy and disappointment and sadness come together in a way that is emblematic of the artist’s practice. In ‘I Am Still Here’ (2024), we see a triptych of three vases of flowers, a motif Hagigat is drawn to as a symbol of resistance and the strength of womanhood. The mantric quality of the title of the work refers to Hagigat’s perseverance following an injury earlier in the year, acting as a reminder to keep going and seek strength in times of pain. ‘Encounter’ (2009), presents the artist’s fascination with bare trees, which became her primary source of subject in the late 2000s. The focus on trees is a reflection of Hagigat’s personal ethos regarding growth, evolution and continuous learning. The trees, like human beings, she saw for their strength and persistence, seeking to capture a feeling of calm and stability, rooted in the ground.

Whilst many of Hagigat’s works demonstrate a statement of self-possession and power, others lean more towards a feeling of yearning for said strength. The fluctuating nature of this mindset is typical of our human existence. Hagigat’s vulnerable honesty and simultaneous portrayal of weakness and strength, is evidence of her authentic approach to creating work that is in line with her understanding of life itself. Portraying the continuous juxtapositions of life is important to Hagigat: the contrast between times of lightness and darkness, joy and sorrow, vulnerability and power. The positive cannot exist without the negative, and vice versa, and much of her work seems to accept, even embrace, this notion.

Nahid Hagigat (b. 1943) has been the recipient of numerous awards including the Maryland Federation Of Art, Juror Selected Award, Winner; Celebrity Center, World Contemporary Art, International Fine Arts Competition & Exhibition, Best of Show Award; HTEL, Heckstcher Museum 38th Annual Art Exhibition, New York, Award of Excellence. Her work is included in major public and private collections such the Metropolitan Museum of Art, The British Museum, Tehran Museum of Modern Art, JP Morgan-Chase, New York University, and World Bank in Washington, D.C., among others. Hagigat’s solo exhibitions include Taymour Grahne Projects, London (2024); White Wall Space, New York; Litho Gallery, Tehran. She has also been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Culture Lab LIC, New York; Susan Eley Fine Art, New York; Silk Road Gallery, Tehran; Maheh- Mehr, Tehran; Asia Society, New York; Leila Heller Gallery, New York; Center for Iranian Study, Washington; CIMA Art Center, New York; Center for Arts, Montreal; Queens Museum, New York; Pacific Asia Museum, California. Hagigat received her MFA in Art Education and Creative Arts, and her Doctoral Degree Services I, II & III from New York University.

NAHID HAGIGAT'S CV HERE