URBAN TRAINS – Roya Karimi

LIGHT pierces into the belly of darkness and the VOID thirsts for a spectacle. The endless, vein-like tunnels and railways crawling under the city’s skin, turn into a spacious, voracious STAGE.

From artist's notes

Created between 2015 and 2018 and inspired by my daily commutes to and from work in downtown Tehran, the Urban Trains series takes a look at the multifaceted atmosphere of urban trains and underground stations, offering a glance at those deep marks such shared spaces might leave on the skin and soul of our social existence. Additionally, these works captured another significant phenomenon: the separation of genders in these public spaces. Naturally, most of the paintings depict women. The few works where men are present tend to offer a distant, segregated point of view. Looking back at the series, I find myself equally defamiliarized with the situation that I, like the majority of Iranian citizens, used to take for granted for such a long time. Interestingly, these scenes from the recent past might already be on the brink of becoming history.

Roya Karimi
Fall 2022