At first glance, my paintings may appear as purely abstract gestural works. Yet beneath their surface lies a deeply personal and autobiographical narrative informed by abrupt uprooting, a childhood marked by exile, and decades spent living across continents observing others and trying to decipher patterns of human behaviour. These experiences shape the central preoccupations of my practice: questioning first impressions, uncovering unseen layers of meaning, and embracing a multiplicity of perspectives.
My process is rooted in movement and shifting vantage point. I lay the canvas flat on the floor, circling it, and painting from multiple angles to avoid over-focusing on any single fixed position. This spatial choreography sharpens my awareness of what lies beyond the conventional framed view. The work evolves slowly, built up through subtle layers of texture and transparency. The result is intentionally restrained, often rendered in muted tones. It resists easy legibility and asks instead for close, sustained attention before its complexity fully reveals itself.
Whether through painting or explorations in photography, my work seeks to cultivate a more active, probing, and engaged mode of observation. I want to encourage viewers to dig deeper, to question what lies beneath and to engage with the world around them, and especially those unlike them, more mindfully and with greater empathy.
Azadeh Ghotbi is a London-based Iranian-American painter and photographer. Her work has been exhibited in Europe (Basel, Frankfurt, London, Paris), the Middle East (Amman, Cairo, Dubai) and the United States (Los Angeles, New York, Washington DC) and is in a number of private and corporate collections.