The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

His Lantern

His Lantern

2006
(Iranian, b. 1974)
Iran
shadow installation; plain weave: polyethylene, hand cut
Overall: 254 x 177.8 cm (100 x 70 in.)
The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 2012.15
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

The artist stenciled the pattern on the woven polyethelene and cut out the design with a heated knife to sear the edges. When displayed, light from an overhead ceiling projector casts elaborate shadows on the wall.

Description

Born in Iran and raised in New York, Afruz Amighi typically incorporates religious and political symbols in traditional geometric and foliate designs adapted from Islamic art. His Lantern is the first in her series of shadow installations in which she projects light onto a hand-cut stencil sheet of polyethylene, or Pe-Cap, the plastic sheeting often given to refugees. Here, she uses the format of an Iranian prayer rug with a central arch representing the niche, or mihrab, in a mosque as a starting point. A prominent crystal chandelier replaces a mosque lamp with flames rising up to form the name of Allah, stylized into the shape of a tulip. Miniature skeleton keys hang from the chandelier, representing the martyrs of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s.
  • ?-2012
    (Nicelle Beauchene Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2012-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 53 no. 02, March/April 2013 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 21 archive.org
    Mackie, Louise W. "Transformations: Art from Islamic Lands in the Cleveland Collection." Orientations: The Magazine for Collectors and Connoisseurs of Asian Art, November/December 2013. Reproduced: p. 80, fig 2-3
  • Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 2015-December 19, 2016).
    Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 18, 2014-December 14, 2015).
    Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 16, 2013-December 15, 2014).
    Islamic art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 3, 2012-December 9, 2013).
  • {{cite web|title=His Lantern|url=false|author=Afruz Amighi|year=2006|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2012.15