Hasti Sardashti interview in DESTIG

DESTIG Interview with our Award Winner, Hasti Sardashti.
Read this interview in DESTIG Magazine

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DESTIG Interview

"Somehow I see myself as a kind of tree maybe a fruit tree and see the process of my image making as the process of the organic development of a fruit: from the time the tree blossoms over to the time the unripe fruit gradually rips up until the fruit is ready to be separated from the tree."

Tell us about yourself and background.
I was born in Tehran (Iran) during the 1960s. I was 14 when the Iranian revolution started and like many young people in my generation I was also an active part of it. I believe this event had a very crucial eﬀect of the rest of my life.
After so many years there is still a strong feeling there like being ready to pack and run any time as things can change rapidly from one day to other. I feel like if I have only my toes on the ground rather having my both feet on the ground!
I left my country in 1984, forced by the situation and on my parents wish ending up in Germany.
I found me there with a high amount of depression and guilt towards the country and people I left behind who stayed and had to fight for their lives there. The ‘Migration, Survival & Guilt” series can be seen as an attempt to express my feelings of survivor guilt which has been hunting me all through my adult life.

Tell us about your work.
Describing my art is for me like describing a part of my body that I cannot see! like my nose for example, I know it is there and it is a part of me, I see a shade of it when I look inward but I actually cannot see it as I can see the other side of my body like my hands for example!
My work starts with a strong image in my head. Me or parts of me seem to be always somehow the centre of the image either as itself or as an observer. This initial image will develop over a period of time which might take from a week, to a month or even to over a year. During this time the image continues to grow and develop in my head. I would turn the image in my head from 2D to 3D, observing it from diﬀerent angels, while I keep searching for a meaning for it or something could fit the image in outside world.
I would search online for symbolic meanings of things I see in my head, or searching pictures online which would fit the part of the image etc. I then might print and look at these pictures and involve these in my original image. In this process I will keep re - arranging the image in my head till I feel the time is ripe to bring it on the canvas. I will then do some simple sketches or doing some measurements in traditional ways in order to organise the process. From the time the first ‘approved’ image arrives on the canvas till the end this process of changing and developing will continue.
Somehow I see myself as a kind of tree maybe a fruit tree and see the process of my image making as the process of the organic development of a fruit: from the time the tree blossoms over to the time the unripe fruit gradually rips up until the fruit is ready to be separated from the tree. However for me unlike with the ripe fruit, the process of development and growth are never ending with my images. For me once my image is presented to the audience it will start a never ending process of becoming more alive, more interactive, or maybe more interesting and mysterious.

What makes your work and approach unique?
I don't believe in uniqueness as such. I rather believe that the humans and their cultures are very much connected to one other. I believe there are more things which are unknown to us that known. Maybe when the audience of my work see a reflection of these unknown in themselves it will appear to them as unique which might not be unique at all.
Having said that maybe me not following any particular genre or method and just doing what comes in my mind, might make the uniqueness.

Why is your work a good investment?
That is the question I need to ask You!

Tell us about some of your achievements.
I never thought that I can be there where I am now considering the long and unusual way I went so far in my life. I never thought that my art works are going to be seen or liked by professionals. Hence what ever I have achieved so far like any acceptance for an art fair or publication or this award, means to me as a huge achievement, I am very thankful to.

What are your sources of inspiration?
It is all me! me and my inner world and how I feel and see things around me!

What you are passionate about?
I am passionate about humanity, justice, nature and all the beauty which is surrounding us.

Share with us your upcoming projects.
I was asked by a gallery to join their Art Basel room at Aqua art Miami during the upcoming Art Basel Miami this December.

Tell us about where you are based.
I am based in London/UK the first city I could call ‘Home’ after leaving my country in 1984. Despite all the political and social changes the country has been through in the last few years which has been also aﬀecting my city, I can not imagine at the moment to live where else. I need to have a vibrant lively imperfectly odd or strange big city environment like London where I can be invisible and do what I am best at which is 'observing’!

Website: hastisardashti.com