“METANOIA” by Azin Yousefiani
Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design celebrated Azin Yousefiani’s MFA thesis show “METANOIA.” Yousefiani also teaches at Georgia State University, where she works professionally in the arts, using techniques such as printmaking, papermaking, painting, and drawing. Still, her primary focus is printmaking and papermaking, where you can see her recreating paper patterns and different shapes in her show. The pattern she brings from Iran is her transformation story as she seeks a new identity. “Her motivation? Existed understanding — fresh, private, and extremely established in immigration and memory.”, focusing on her identity, who I am, and where I came from. She says, “It is about why I am experiencing this here as an immigrant.” All patterns look the same but not the same because they change, transforming like her with her little blender. How she blends her papers and remade them just like herself. She moved from her hometown, Kurdistan, Iran, to search for a new visual language and is now in the United States. There is a lot to think about and go through, Azin, but you did a fantastic job that fascinated your audience.
The installation was excellent: a lecture on how three-dimensional storytelling would be done. The order of the works and how you settled them down is impressive. Let me draw a picture. When you enter the gallery, one of the remarkable pieces, with its all-sophisticated vibe and 3D visuality, says, "Welcome to you.” When you turn right, you start experiencing the best version of papers, how they transform, how every pattern grasps you, and how the best color combination looks. Papermaking fascinated me! Silver, bronze, white, black, colorful pieces, and stitch details, which Yousefiani combines two pieces with her sewing, invites you to experience different emotional journeys. The box is full of fabrics she brings from her country, and just as you assumed, it couldn’t become more individual — insert the fabric box traditional from her background into your heart. The other that impressed me was that the lengthy, colorful paperwork looked like a colorful sprinkled on it and covered with a black honeycomb pattern.
When you see the pieces individually and closely, you have no choice but to be fascinated. Dear GSU folks and the Atlantans who engage in living with art, come and see her show and let them open another window into your world. Start to think and ask questions again. Let yourself know and feel how art expresses everything with a feeling, touch, and techniques.
Thank you, Azin, for retelling us that paper can express power, kindness, and history concurrently. Every stitch and paper are an echo of who you are. The exhibition also continues outside the gallery's walls. What is the result, then? METANOIA is simultaneously an adventurous cry and a pictorial whisper. Believe me, you're losing out on the conversation if you're in Atlanta and don't watch this concert. You didn’t get it from me... but you would.”
