Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, New Hampshire
Let the Garden Eram Flourish
January 5 - March 12, 2017
Curated by Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi, curator of African art at the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth

"Behbahani approaches Persian gardens as a metaphor for politics and poetics, and also seeks to represent the intersection of the public and private."

This exhibition presents a suite of new paintings, an installation, and a video from Persian Gardens, an ongoing series begun four years ago by Iranian-born, Brooklyn-based artist Bahar Behbahani. The title is taken from an early nineteenth-century poem by Ali Khan, poet laureate of the court of Fath Ali Shah Qajar, who wrote under the pseudonym Saba, in celebration of Eram Garden, a UNESCO World heritage site and one of the oldest gardens in Iran. The rich history of Eram parallels the histories of old Persia and modern Iran. Its many pavilions, built over several dynasties by influential families who successively had the garden under their control, constitute a record of power and prestige over the ages.