SAMPLING THE CITY

OPENING RECEPTION ON THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2026, STARTING AT 6 P.M.

THE ARTIST WILL BE PRESENT

The installation consists of photographs and fragments that Samira Hodaei collected in Tehran before and during the recent war. The photographs of deserted places show the very same streets that, just a few weeks earlier, had been the scene of protests. The work conceives of the city as a surface—comparable to skin—on which history is not always immediately visible, yet remains inscribed in its texture. In this series, the texture of the asphalt is transferred onto paper using tar. Tar, the primary binding agent in asphalt, refers to a raw material that has significantly shaped Iran’s history and is frequently addressed in the work of this artist, who hails from an oil-rich region: petroleum. The paper is then coated with a layer of latex. Its surface resembles human skin and gradually changes color over time. In this way, the work records the traces of time and becomes a physical specimen of the streets of Tehran.