Bahar Behbahani speaks about her Sharjah Biennial 15 work ‘Garden of Desire’ (2023).

Inspired by the design of the royal Fin Garden, one of the oldest in Iran, the sculptural installation reflects on the Persian garden as a paradoxical site of beauty and hospitality on the one hand and an auxiliary purpose for diplomatic and imperialistic negotiations on the other.

The work mediates Behbahani’s archival research and parallel narratives in the historical construction of the Iranian landscape through a set of six etchings that rhythmically wipe, erase and rebuild layers of data. ​