US-based Iranian’s cloth works at Art Central reflect complex fabric of her identity

Elnaz Javani says her art raises questions regarding history, belonging and transformation that are relevant to Hongkongers.

Photo: Handout A series of artworks featuring six coats with distinctive features created by an Iranian-American artist for the Art Central festival will allow Hongkongers to reflect on themes of memory and conflict amid the ongoing war in the Middle East.

Elnaz Javani, who was born in Iran in 1985 and currently lives in the United States, told the South China Morning Post that the work could also serve as a meditative space for Hongkongers amid rising global geopolitical tensions.

She said her art also represents her own past struggles with identity. “My ideas draw from personal memory but transform it into imagined narratives rather than direct documentation,” she said. “I hope audiences take away a sense of the emotional complexity of lived experience; the ways memory, displacement and personal history are carried through the body, objects and materials.” Her artwork is currently being presented at Art Central, which runs until Sunday at Central Harbourfront.

The installation consists of six coats, some of which feature scorched edges and charred textures.

Some pieces transition from long to short sleeves, while others feature sections of the coat merging into a collage of contrasting colours.

She added that there was a poignancy to her artwork being displayed in Hong Kong, which is full of questions regarding history, belonging and transformation that she thinks her work reflects in similar ways, creating a space for viewers to bring their own experiences and interpretations.

Art Central brings together more than 100 galleries from the city, mainland China, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, the United States, Britain, Spain, and Israel, among other countries.

Javani further explained how she views herself amid the shifting tides of history and the enduring scars of her homeland, as her work is deeply rooted in a lived experience shaped across borders from Iran to Europe and the United States.

She grew up in Tehran, where fabric was part of her everyday environment.

But the coats in her art are not mere garments - they compel the viewer to consider metaphorical themes. “Through the texture, stitching and gestures, the work invites reflection on fragility, vulnerability, and transformation,” she said.

She added that the physicality of the process - the touching and cutting of cloth - triggers memories and allows imagination

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