Recent jewellery from Aria Gallery in Iran reflects alternative forms of embodiment.

Fatemeh Pour Yousefi

Over the past few months, the human ear has become, to me, a safe and nurturing nest. The ear is not merely an organ for hearing, but a keeper of whispers, secrets, and untold stories.This earring is not just an ornament; it is a reflection on the power of listening and the profound connection we share with our bodies and memories.

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Fatemeh Mohammadian

I aim to design and create devices that fall under the category of wearable sculptures or contemporary jewelry, intended to depict the challenges of contemporary city life, particularly in Tehran, the capital of Iran. These challenges arise from cultural, environmental, and urban regulations I encounter daily in the city. Each device addresses one or more issues of urban living, incorporating its unique set of mathematical formulas, attempting to resolve urban challenges by critiquing them through a mathematical lens.

Although my intention is not to inflict pain, I believe that some aspects of urban life do echo elements of constraint or discomfort. Metal was the material best suited to this device, and by darkening and patinating the steel, I minimised its purely industrial feel. The form is tailored to the ergonomics of my own body as a contemporary urban resident. The device’s mechanism demonstrates, through mathematical formulas, a critique of urban population density issues, as detailed in the following description.

I cast a mould of my body to feel the weight of a 10-kilogram concrete mass attached to my sternum. It replicates the heaviness I experience in this part of my body during moments of external emotional pressure, as if it’s crushing my chest.

The city compels me to tilt my head unnaturally high, just to experience something as simple as the sky.

Modernity is constantly constructing a new world atop its own ruins. Marshall Berman, in All That Is Solid Melts into Air, describes this as an ongoing process in which cities are perpetually transformed, and their inhabitants are forced to continuously seek new tools to survive within this unstable environment.

Living in cities that are no longer sanctuaries but rather aggressive environments demands protection, calibration, and a redefinition of our relationship with space.

This steel apparatus, designed to fit my body as a citizen of Tehran, employs quantitative calculations and numerical data to measure urban life by gauging the angle of view toward the cityscape. It is not merely a mechanical object, but a response to the body’s need when confronted with the city, a tool for measuring, protecting, and adapting within a space that is evolving more relentlessly with each passing day.

Hamid Shakib

The present collection, titled Venus, is inspired by historical Venuses such as the Venus of Willendorf, the Venus of Sarab, and the Venus de Milo. These Venuses symbolise beauty, fertility, and love. The engravings on them are influenced by astrolabe imagery as well as the poetry of great Iranian poets.

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These three Iranian jewellers were featured in the 6th Aria Jewelry Open Call.

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Iran | jewellery