Paintings conceived in Canada that aim to tell the story of Iran.

Sorour Abdolahi was born in Iran in 1955. She immigrated to Canada in 2000 to have a better and safer life for her family. Sorour studied Persian literature and art in Iran and has always considered herself an artist. Her body of work is mostly contemporary art, with influences from expressionism, abstraction and modernism.

Sorour’s Iranian background and Canadian experience have inspired her paintings, which reflect what she calls a “negotiation between the modern and ancient.” Architecture plays a pivotal role in her paintings and expresses the negotiation process that exists between two differing cultures and the accumulated impact of human society on the landscape.

While the ruins depicted in her work speak of a pure and mystical past, they also illustrate the corrosive nature of time, modernity and constant reconfiguration of space. Depicted in these paintings is an ancient society that is being made subordinate or marginal by the pressures of the outside world: the global economy and culture. These works also speak of the resilience of Iranian culture, one that has been abused but not destroyed; therefore one could find patience, humility and perseverance.

These paintings attempt to form a bridge between the past and the present, and between the two contrasting cultures by recognizing the human connections that transcend time, space, borders and societies.

Sorour’s Studio & Gallery is located at 108-1058 Mainland Street in Vancouver, B.C.
Her website is www.sorourart.com.