The Birdman

This painting, based largely on imagery sourced from artefacts of the Jiroft Culture (3rd millennium B.C.E.), explores ancient symbolic forms and their unconscious resonances across time.

Images evolve as they move through time and cultures, reshaping their meanings in response to changing myths and worldviews. Like the decorations found on ancient artefacts—especially in funerary contexts—motifs can serve to ease transitions between worlds, often tied to ritual, magic, or sacred symbolism. 

In Jiroft iconography, the mastering of animals and the presence of hybrid beings embody the human desire to dominate and transcend the natural world, while also symbolizing the struggles between opposing forces such as life and death.

This dualistic thinking reflects a sophisticated cosmogony rooted in the human drive to transcend suffering, while also bearing the imprint of the strongly contrasting landscapes of the Iranian-Indian plateau.