Artist Mahsa Soroudi

Artist and art curator Mahsa Soroudi was born in the metropolitan area of Iran, Tehran, in 1981. Soroudi enrolled into the Azad Art and Architecture University, pursing a BFA in Visual Communications. Her interests are about interdisciplinary topics that can exist beyond a exhibit, which in her provided example from the video, is ornamental plants (the succulents). Her purpose of her art is to compare the plant conditions and adaption to current conditions that are occurring for foreign countries and people. In works of art are a collaboration with an Iranian women, to portray recognition on the living and work conditions they face in order to find stability in a different country.

Soroudi’s “Natures Cadence” is the piece I would like to talk about. To me the first thing I noticed was the muted colors used for the room and chair. More so, the colors are not inside the “lines” as to give a hazy effect. Some lines are not straight as they were done free hand. All together the room is not meant to be realistic as the shapes of the objects are enough to know what each thing is.

“Natures Cadence” represents how ornamental plants have similarities to foreign people, such as adapting to given conditions in an environment, displacement and resettlement. Soroudi said she was like her plant because she didn’t believe the possibility of settling in the U.S, but her plants taught her remain beautiful and strong while trying to officially settle down, such as how a plant does in a pot with roots. She would experiment with the plants, planting them under different conditions and recording the solution of appearance after. This purpose of art can be directed upon anyone, having to adapt to conditions and continue to push forward towards your achievements.

I agree with the idea of Soroudi’s artwork, of how people can be like ornamental plants in my experience. Having to be independent student who has to make everyday productive. To be honest it was very difficult in the beginning as I felt like I had to know more than I had at the time. But like the plant I had to learn to adapt to my new environment if I wanted to continue.