On view from March 3 through 28th, 2015, at Soho20 Chelsea Gallery, Story of a Curse brings together Negin Sharfizadeh’s newest stop-motion animated film, Story of a Curse #1, and a series of sculptural works and hand-painted prints drawn out of the filmmaking process. There will be an opening reception from 6 to 8 pm on Thursday, March 3, and an artist talk in conversation with Aphrodite Désirée Navab, on Saturday March 28, at 2 pm.

Story of a Curse #1 was inspired by the story of the artist’s mother moving through loss and despair after the still birth of her first child and only son. Birth, the act of creating life, had become a deliverance of death. She came to believe that she had been cursed. The film explores the dreams of motherhood, the bond between a baby in the womb and the mother, and the role magic can play in our processes of grief and resilience.
Sharifzadeh has developed an organic suite of techniques, “making magic happen with projected light and found materials,” in the words of Lili White, founder of the AXWFFestival. She peels away the traditional sculptural methods of building and casting, and works with everything from needlework learned from her grandmother to assemblages of found objects, wire mesh, wax and plaster. Her animations, including a custom-built multi-planar animation stand incorporating layers of glass, are painstakingly constructed using these same elements. Through these methods, Sharifzadeh has found a resonance between the themes she is exploring and the works, allowing her stories to slip almost unconsciously into the materials through the obsessive actions of her hands creating.

For more information, please contact the gallery at 212-267-8994 or [email protected]