In collaboration with nonprofit Farhang Foundation, the compelling new group exhibition, ART IRAN: Falling into Language, features nine expatriate artists who engage with the Persian language as a visual and symbolic device, exploring their state of diaspora and concepts of “home” via the alphabet.

ART IRAN: Falling into Language includes installation works, drawings, collages, site-specific art, and an interactive installation. Methods used range from sewing; assemblages of letters, words, and ceramics; and wall painting. “The technique of handwriting on objects of different materials, from dishes to architectural tiles, is part of daily life in Iranian culture—and has been throughout history,” notes the exhibit’s – all women – curation team, Roshanak Ghezelbashand Hoda Rahbarnik.

“The audience’s inability to read these letters captures the in-between state the artists occupy in their daily reality: no longer belonging in their homeland nor in their new home. They chose handwriting over calligraphy— a well-known official expression of the alphabet with a long history within and outside the Iranian art scene; the artists chose handwriting as their voice—to gain a sense of belonging. What they bring with them into this new state of alienation might ultimately be described as a new kind of cosmopolitanism—it belongs to nowhere, so it is at home everywhere.”

Made up of almost entirely women members, ART IRAN: Falling into Language features the following artists: Hadieh Shafie, Maryam Palizgar, Elnaz Javani, Golnar Adili, Shadi Yousefian, Neda Moridpour, Pouya Afshar, Taraneh Hemami and Parastou Forouhar.

RSVP to the artist talk, “Shaping the Idea of Falling into Language” on January 28 at Craft Contemporary here.

Lastly, free every Sunday, the exhibition is open Tuesday to Sunday, 11:00 AM to 5:00 PM.