Closing Reception for The Jade by Laleh Motlagh
@ Epiphany Center for the Arts
201 S Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607
Opening Sunday, September 20th, from 3PM - 6PM
On view through Sunday, September 20th
The Jade presents recent paintings by Laleh Motlagh, centering on a jade plant brought by her father from her hometown of Tabriz, Iran, in 2012. Over fourteen years of relocation across various Chicago homes and studios, Motlagh has nurtured this plant, developing an intimate, symbiotic bond with it. Since 2022, the jade has transitioned from a personal companion into one of the primary subjects of her visual practice.
Indigenous to South Africa but ubiquitous worldwide, the plant serves as a living metaphor for political displacement and global migration. Motlagh focuses intently on the plant’s pot as a site of dual identity: it is both a protective shelter and a rigid constraint. Confined within this human-made structure, the jade adaptation mirrors the endurance of Iranian women navigating systemic restriction and control. Through daily and repetitive observation, The Jade maps the deep intimacy between human and botanical life, offering a quiet meditation on uprooting, survival, and the persistent will to grow within boundaries.
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Tags: Epiphany Center for the Arts, Laleh Motlagh, painting, The Jade, West Loop
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