Nilou Kazemzadeh

Dried wild clay, ceramics, mineral pigments, plaster, 112” x 84”, 2024

This work is a visual representation of my interest in the geology and ecological landscapes of Maryland. The work consists of wild raw clay that I gathered from the Watts Branch tributary behind my house in Maryland and minerals pigments I found beside the river bank, which I ground into fine pigment. The mineral pigments reside in the ceramic house vessels, that represent the location of where the pigments were gathered. Holding Earth is a space that is in constant flux. The topography is ever changing as I use the pigment and clay to produce printed and sculptural works. The installation sits on top of plaster tiles mixed with mineral pigments. 

Photo Credit: Sam Fritch, Neighboring States Photo

Ceramics, mineral pigments, wild clay, 24” x 15”, 2024

This sculpture takes on a form of tulips sprouting roots. The ceramic piece is painted using various colors that were foraged from the Watts Branch tributary in Maryland. The green, brown, yellow and red all come from minerals I ground into fine pigments and applied as a coat to my ceramic piece. The symbolism of the tulips represent resistance and resilience as they are a perennial flower. They come back every spring, which also coincides with the Persian New Year of Nowruz. The tulip has become a symbol of resistance for Iranian people who witness and experience the violence subjected to them by the Islamic Republic of Iran. The tulips in this work are forever immortalized, adorned with pigments from the earth where I reside, far away from Iran but connected nonetheless.  

Photo Credit: Sam Fritch

Bisque fire ceramic, mineral pigments, wild clay, lake pigment, 17x16x4” 2024

This ceramic piece is painted using colors that were foraged from the Watts Branch tributary in Maryland. The green comes from minerals I ground into fine pigments and applied as a coat to my ceramic piece. The tan and red was produced by applying wild clay slip to my studio clay before firing. This piece also includes a single wild clay ceramic pistachio in the center of the roots. The pistachio represents my connections to Iran and my family's pistachio orchards and the roots represent my  effort in preserving my identity and lineage. 

Photo Credit: Sam Fritch

Glass, clay, rocks, ceramics. 42 ½” x 2 ¼” x 12”, 2024

This installation consists of three glass vessels that are filled with three different materials. At the bottom there is wild clay, in the middle there are mineral rocks, and at the top there are bisque ware fired wild clay in the shape of pistachios. These three elements represent transformation, as each material has formed through various exposure to heat, water, pressure, wind, and gravity. On the surface of each glass vessel, two hands are etched. One hand looks as though it is offering something, while the other accepts it. This work represents my time walking by the Watts Branch tributary in Maryland and the retrospection it provided for me to emerge from that space with a renewed desire to cultivate and care for my culture and identity. The ceramic pistachios are representations of pistachios that were grown in Iran, in my family's orchards, which were then transported to me and my family in the states and memorialized through the wild clay.

Photo Credit: Sam Fritch

Stainedglass, powder/ enamel screen printed imagery on glass, 14 ⅛ x 20 x 1 in., 2023

To Care Is To Plant A Seed is a stained glass panel that encapsulates an image of my mother and aunt's hands passing a piece of pomegranate to my older brother, who was then a baby when this picture was taken in Iran.  The center image is protected by the proceeding 3 layers that form a house motif.

Riso Prints, Individual Print 5x7 in., 2023

These riso prints contain digital photos that were shared on social media during the Woman Life Freedom movement of 2022 in Iran. Creating these riso prints was a way for me to bring these digital images into a physical realm, thus more permanent. I see this act as a form of remembrance and resistance against power systems that have tried hard to control what the global community sees. I re-cycle images and motifs as a form of reclamation of identity and power.

Ink-jet printed images, screenprint, recycled newspaper, cement, 48 ½ x 20 ½ x 1 ¼ in., 2021

Each image still illustrates a single moment in creating a newspaper mask. This newspaper is manipulated under my hands. The fragile and weak fibers of the newspaper undergo transformation, bending and ripping under my will. This piece highlights the underlying forces that shape our ideologies about self and society under the current political climate. How much can one be bent, pushed, pulled before they are irreparably broken. The handmade paper is made from recycled newspaper and is attached to cement to invoke the idea of impermanence and fragility.

Ink-jet printed images, recycled handmade paper, screenprint, wood, rope, 2021

This piece invites viewers to take into question who are the collaterals of the past two years. The arrows are printed with the definition of collateral damage, which is often used in warfare when an “unintended” casualty occurs.

Recycled handmade paper, wood, rope, 2021

These pieces are produced by sewing recycled handmade paper into letters that spell out “hero” and “expendable.” Each piece is suspended between two pillars of wood and stretched with rope. How much tension can the fibers of the recycled paper take before it rips apart?

Ink jet printed photographs with screen printed farsi, 2019

The Space Between series is a collection of family photographs from Iran and America.

Soldered mirror with Farsi handwriting written in ink

This piece invites viewers to see a reflection of themselves while simultaneously being covered by a foreign language. The Farsi handwriting that flows throughout the piece translates to “People discovered within themselves a fragment of the Other, and they believed in this and lived confidently. People thus had three choices when they encountered the Other: They could choose war, they could build a wall around themselves or they could enter into a dialogue.” This writing is an excerpt from A Facing History and Ourselves Publication. This piece allows the viewer to question their own otherness in relation to people of different cultures.

Intaglio prints, 2018-2019

This installation of floating prints represents motion. The idea that there is not one final destination but a multitude of experiences along the way that shapes one's identity.

Ink, wood, 2019

These prints were created in conjunction to the Manifest intaglio prints. The process of inking and wiping each Manifest plate produced these abstract prints. The question of who has access to shaping one's identity comes to play.

Intaglio Collagraph

2016

Intaglio collagraph 

2016

Intaglio collagraph 

2016

Intaglio collagraph

2016