I am working on a series of portraits that got inspired by seeing some resemblance between a friend of mine and a Persian princess from the Qajar Dynasty. I asked her if I could paint her as a Qajar princess and she welcomed the idea.
After finishing the painting I automatically started seeing historic and fictional characters from my Persian heritage in the faces of people I know. And decided to do a series of portraits with this concept in mind. This time I went with a theme with more contrast and intensity and kept the format consistent. I leave clues as to who the depicted character is, hidden behind the face of the one I know.
The first one in the series is my father as Rostam: the greatest warrior in the “Shahnameh” or the Book of Kings by Persian poet Ferdowsi. The calligraphy section is a couplet taken from the book.
I will keep working on this project as new characters come to mind. Definitely re-doing the Qajar princess in the new format! I hope to hold an exhibition of this collection one day.
