“The Hidden Sense” is a collection portraying women giving birth to a new era by rising from their own ashes. Hidden sense is a series of mixed media on canvas paintings narrating messages through different materials and forms.
Heavily inspired by the women-led protests in Iran, this work aims at shedding light on and celebrating the women who courageously are fighting to regain the power of their voice, opinion, and femininity which has been shut down for decades.
The irony of women using the senses of womanhood intuitively and as an empowering tool to fight like a knight against their oppressors is the very irony that this work is inspired by.
Women, Life, Freedom.
Elma Hashemi is an Iranian born Canadian interdisciplinary artist with a background in fine arts and design.
Growing up in an art and literature enthusiast family, Elma’s love for art and culture started at a young age. Having lived both inside and outside of Iran, Elma first handedly witnessed the societal restrictions placed on women and their impact on female isolation and confinement. She refers to this harsh reality as “gender exile” and uses her art to raise awareness and condemn the flaws within the system that enables this injustice.
Her work is notably known for its depiction of dark realities of women’s lives in the Middle East, specially her birth country of Iran. Elma’s portrayal of gender inequality, misogyny and female oppression result in a series of unapologetically bold and dramatic works that contain clever placement of religious and cultural motifs.
