O Gallery presents “Leafless”, a collection of paintings by Avin Farhadi (b. 1984 Isfahan). Avin Farhadi has been interested in the representation of nature more than anything else. In the collection on display, she has added isolated and scattered figures to her landscapes; people summoned from memories and dreams whose presence is influenced by their environment. Avin Farhadi questions whether the past is as clear and beautiful in our minds, or our brains rather give us dreamy and contrived images through forgetting and censoring the events from the past. It is as if this forgetfulness is vital for maintaining our hopes. The symbolic references in “Leafless” are indeed influenced by the artists’ personal and social experiences. In a world where the media is constantly reporting on environmental catastrophes and landslides, we are just watching those events, incapable of change. Avin Farhadi was born and raised in Isfahan, a city that has influenced the artist with its gardens, streets and interior architecture; perhaps this is why her compositions are often central and symmetrical, and the components of each image are formed around a central element. -Alireza Azarnoush