Afshin Bagheri

Myth is not a fiction, a story or a mere imagination; rather it is a serious attempt to achieve the purpose and intention of the creation of the world.

Myths of creation are of great significance. To reach the light, the outset must be brought back and this cannot possibly be done without restating the myth of the creation, performing religious and custom ceremonies and moving beyond the time. In order for the procedure of the birth and creation to start anew and accordingly, as a result of that regeneration to eliminate the filths and abominations, returning to the eternity is unavoidable.

In that three thousand years, in which Ahriman (the demon) was senseless and numb, Hoormazd (God), granted His ethereal and heavenly creation a material and physical appearance. The infinite light is the first gem of Hoormazd’s creation, from which He began the creation. First, He created the sky, bright, clear, and hugely immense and in the form of an egg, made from a stone. Then, from the gem of the sky, water was created to destroy the demon of thirst. Third, He created the earth. Forth, He created the plant; in the beginning, across the middle of the earth, it rose several feet up, out of twigs, without bark, without thorns and yet, sweet, which held all the forces of various plants in its nature. Fifth, the unique and inimitable cow was created by Him to aid the virtuous man, and sixth, He created the virtuous man.

The creation of the plant, animal and man in these paintings reflects for the painters their mythical functions, like the eternity of plant, animal and the celestial man; the elements and myths are floating gently in their own everlasting and perpetual worlds and through connecting to one another, they have built a mysterious and enigmatic world.

Maryam Taheri Rad