WEAVING A GARDEN

November 2023, Toronto

The flora, the aqua, the shadows cast across this tranquil space.

Distance emerges as a fundamental variable in the paintings of Toronto-based artist Anahita Akhavan. The space spanning across any two objects — Weaving a Garden asks viewers to contemplate distance as it is measured within architecture, spirituality, culture, and formal technique.

Akhavan’s ongoing exploration of the Bagh-e Irani (Iranian Garden), disassembles the architecture of the Islamic garden across painted surfaces. Working within a cultural focus away from figurative representation and towards abstraction, this exhibition presents an emotive evocation of the garden rather than a straightforward depiction of it. Just as Iranian miniature paintings interpret three dimensional spaces into a flattened, geometric state, Akhavan frames the garden space with archways, windows and staircases that flow in and out of each other near endlessly: It is easy to feel adrift within the flow of these landscape-like arrangements.

Read the full essay by Philip Leonard Ocampo