Bita Ghezelayagh

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February 2, 2011 by ghaliyah

An Architect, interior designer, film producer and costume designer. Born in Florence, Italy in 1966 and moved to Tehran in 1968 where she lived through the revolution of 1979. In 2004 she began designing her own display tunics and capes as felt canvases on which to express her memories of growing up in Iran.

She has sought a new visual language that embraces tradition and modernity through unique combination of ancient signs, symbols and calligraphy with conceptual art. Her work embody qualities such as simplicity, heft and resilience which she notices are often disregarded in Iran’s march to modernity. Her felt costumes are made for display only, which combine talismanic symbols, silkscreen printing and embroidery.

“Making my first designs, and travelling around Iran searching the best techniques, I came across a display felt shepherd’s capes in a provincial bazaar. They hung inertly, heavily, a reminder of earthly tradition amid the gaudy consumer goods, and were poignant validation of Joseph Beuys elevation of felt into art”