Pegah Samaie was born in Iran and has lived in the United States for 10 years. She received her BFA and MFA degrees with honors from the Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna Beach, California.
“People have basic rights here and can do any work, any job, they want,” she observes. “I can paint any subject I want to paint. In some cultures women cannot. They don’t have basic rights. I’m using this power to talk about my experience as a woman in Iran and to try to speak for them.”
Where is Home?, oil on aluminum, 36 x 18"
She will have her first solo show at Abend Gallery in Denver May 26 through June 23.
Among the paintings is Where is Home. The nude woman lies on a white cotton shroud or kafan. In Iran, the dead body is washed, wrapped in the kafan and buried in the earth. Samaie’s subject is in a symbolic death, wearing a compass on a cord around her neck. “She is a corpse,” Samaie explains. “A woman who doesn’t have any hope, but she has a compass. She is looking for something to lead her back to life. 
Yearning for Release, oil on aluminum, 30 x 20"
“In that culture,” she continues, “a woman’s role is fixed. For Am I Homemaker, I asked girls to paint about women being pregnant. The girl is playing with a doll. In her parents’ minds she is ready for an arranged marriage. She is surrounded by the lace of a wedding dress. I chose red rather than white. Red is often chosen for the wedding dress in Middle Eastern culture, but for me it represents blood and the cruelty of child marriage.”
In Yearning for Release, the woman “is in an uncomfortable position and looking for someone to help.” She holds a cup above her head, a strong symbol for the artist.
Pegah Samaie in her studio.
“Cups play an essential role in my paintings,” she says. “Since they are containers, they are very symbolic. Cups are fragile. They are made from ceramic or porcelain. They are much like humans who can be filled with love and pain. They can also be filled with each other and eventually with flowers.”
She continues, “I want to create stories about women I know. This is my inspiration. My paintings move through the shadow of my past life. Painting is my way of expressing my emotion to the outside world, of showing love, passion and hope.” —
Abend Gallery
1261 Delaware Street, Suite 2 • Denver, CO 80204
(303) 355-0950 • www.abendgallery.com
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