Zohreh Galdizadeh

My work investigates the vitality of matter: how material objects constantly act upon one another, form relations, and react to the forces of gravity and magnetism. These actions generate various fields of interactivity and intensity between people, objects, and spaces that we can think of as systems. In these systems, the relations between the objects and people are more important than the objects and people themselves. I sometimes utilize the affective capacity of the mirror to foreground the relationality and intensities that happen between objects, people, and spaces. I rely on elements of wonder to awaken and engage the viewer to arrive at a new conception of matter. By highlighting a small fraction of the infinite, unknown, and complex relations that can be formed and generated among material objects and people as components of space, my art critiques the human control and domination over the environment, otherwise known as nature. In other words, my work tries to sensitize the viewer to the vibrancy of materials, and the relationality that exists between and beyond people and objects. It invites the viewer to reframe the way they look at mundane material objects by relating themselves as an extension of them. Refocusing our awareness toward these relationalities enables us to form alliances with other non-human material bodies. In an age of ecological breakdown, where the gap between human/nature continues to have consequences, the need for more meaningful relationships with the material world has been increasingly felt.I consider myself a fortunate participant in objects’ nature of being, their endless relations, and forces whose unpredictability leads to autonomous realities, sometimes independent of the observer.