“Transfiguration of a Dead End” by Homa BazrAfshan — from the Painful Rebirth exhibition

Artist: Homa BazrAfshan

Material: Ostrich Egg, feather, Stone, Flower of Home, Mixed Material .

Artist Statement :

"Transfiguration of a Dead End"

This is a cycle of life—living within a state of emergency and an experience imposed upon us. A collective mourning whose weight of passage rests upon all our shoulders.
This work stands as a memorial to the children of Iran: a shell covered with red flowers and feathers found on the streets—signs of presence, endurance, and the embodiment of the collective force of the Simurgh. Inside this shell, the tally marks of time and the density of suffering lead to a stone flower that opens only with a single drop of water. This drop is the tear of the lovers of the homeland—a tear that is not a sign of weakness, but a mechanism for release and a promise of regrowth.
This transfiguration is a tribute to the Simurgh-like will of a people who, even within the dead end of history, have not forgotten how to bloom. Here, life is not a choice; it is an inevitable, defiant mockery of nothingness.
The profusion of elements in this work is not a decorative decision, but a reflection of the accumulated lived experience and the turbulence of an artist’s mind, weaving profound suffering into the alchemy of survival.
Inside this shell, something is still breathing…