Neda Asgari’s Intricate Paintings of Iranian Carpets: Preserving and Sharing Iranian Culture

Neda Asgari is a hyperrealistic painter from Iran, known for her intricate paintings of Iranian carpets. In today’s reality, where Iran has been expanding public crackdown on women and girls to assert control over its citizens, Asgari’s pieces become a way to remind Iranians and the people of the world of true Iranian cultural values that are embedded in its carpets, a peaceful craft that for many generations have been passed down in the women of the nation. 

Iranian carpets have long been regarded as a significant aspect of Iranian art and culture, with rural areas of the country relying on handmade carpet production as a major source of income. Hence, Asgari’s pieces remind Iranians of the crucial role that women play in preserving Iranian culture and identity, empowering women in the country and calling for broader peace and harmony. This is why Asgari’s pieces are aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Reduced Inequalities and Gender Equality.

Asgari is using an embossed hyper-realistic painting technique that her father, painter Esmail Askari, first developed to also portray Iranian Carpets. Unlike Asgari’s paintings, her father’s Iranian carpet paintings look fragile. The carpets he depicted lay in a state of decay, often in the middle of a desert where no life can be seen. Asgari’s carpets, on the other hand, appear regal. The lighting she chooses resembles that found in European romanticism, where strong contrasts are used for dramatic effect, to portray strong emotions and often amplify patriotic feelings as seen in Eugène Delacroix’s Liberty Leading the People. 

Here again, the message is clear: when creating her paintings, Asgari is motivated by her love for her country, her people and her culture. She wants to portray an internationally renowned symbol of her culture as best as she can, in order to preserve it from decay that is both external and internal.

In a Tehran Times interview with carpet expert, Mashad Abzari, they outlined how in the past, women were responsible for all stages of carpet production. They would procure raw materials for its production, design it, and physically craft it. The carpet’s designs were passed down between women in a family, from grandmother to mother to daughter. The symbols seen on the carpets were a way to reflect on the vibrant culture and lifestyle that these women lived through.

In one painting, Neda Asgari has captured this sentiment by painting a woman who is sitting cross-legged, crafting a carpet. All around her hang intricate carpets, each with its own distinct pattern and colours, much like real Iranian carpets are distinct from one to another. These carpets and the women who have dedicated their lives to crafting it serve as poignant reminders of the rich cultural heritage and enduring spirits of Iranian women. Asgari’s paintings not only preserve the beauty of an Iranian identity but also highlight the crucial roles that women play in sustaining the art form. 

Find out more about Iranian Carpet Paintings by Neda Asgari Angels and their other pieces by checking their Instagram on @neda_asgari_art.