VIDA MANSOURI

Sanandaj- Bahar Badakhshan, a painter, art teacher and illustrator in Eastern Kurdistan, opened an exhibition called “Holy Madness” in Sanandaj on February 15. The exhibition, which will open until March 10, has attracted great interest from art lovers.

Bahar Badakhshan depicts women’s complex emotions and the moments when they have to remain silent in her paintings to be the voice of women. She decided to name her exhibition “Holy Madness” because she wants to paint women's inner strength, wounds and resistance against all the challenges and draws attention to the recent attempts of the Iranian regime to show women, who struggle for their rights as “mentally ill” and to open a treatment clinic for women who defy the mandatory hijab laws.

‘I want to reflect my feelings in my paintings’

Bahar Badakhshan has been working as an illustrator for more than 10 years and as an art teacher for 27 years. “Women are invisible in society; they do not express their feelings and they are always selfless,” she told us. “I have faced many challenges in my life because I am a woman. For this reason, I always want to reflect my feelings in my paintings.”

'I used illustration techniques'

Bahar Badakhshan gave us information about her paintings at the exhibition. “This exhibition is an illustration exhibition. The difference between illustration and painting is that illustrations are often designed for a specific purpose. Illustrations are more descriptive. I created these illustrations for adults by using a light pen. I used types of illustration techniques to create them. It is possible to print them multiple times.”