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Shirana Shahbazi / Iran/Switzerland b.1974 / Sirous Shaghaghi / Iran b. unknown / Still life: Coconut and other things 2009 / Synthetic polymer paint on canvas / 494.6 x 596cm / Commissioned as part of a workshop for Kids’ APT6 / Gift of the artist through the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation 2010 / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Shirana Shahbazi
Shirana SHAHBAZIStill life: Coconut and other things 2009
Not Currently on Display
Connecting with the language of advertising, Shirana Shahbazi commissioned Iranian billboard painter Sirous Shaghaghi to translate her studio photographs onto canvas. To create Still life: coconut and other things, a workshop was conducted at the Children’s Art Centre with a group of local Brisbane primary school children.
Discussions introduced the history of the still-life genre, the artist and her work, inspiring participants to compose their own still-life arrangements. The composition of locally available fruits and foliage was then transformed into an immense artwork by the billboard painter Sirous Shaghaghi in Iran.
The final result is a truly global still-life painting, in terms of both its subject and its makers.
Shirana Shahbazi emigrated from Iran to Germany as an 11-year-old, and now lives in Zurich, Switzerland. In her photographic reinterpretations of the still-life tradition, Shahbazi traverses geography, history and media to explore questions of cultural translation.
Discussion Questions
1. Identify the techniques of glossy advertising that are evident in Shahbazi’s painting.
2. Pinpoint examples where the artist has manipulated highlights and shadows to give the fruit a hyper-real quality.
Classroom Activities
Still life: Coconut and other things 2009 is a carefully constructed image. Print multiple copies of the painting (4 to an A4 page). Study the work’s composition by folding your printouts across halves (horizontal, vertical, horizontal), quarters and thirds. Discuss your observations about the artist’s use of balance and contrast, harmony and emphasis.