Essays & Talks
Long-form essays, interviews, curators' talks, and research notes from the scholars and practitioners building the archive.
Siyavush: A Princely Martyr
Siyavush is the only figure in the epic executed over a golden basin — a detail that links Ferdowsi’s prince to Osiris, Joseph, and Adonis.
Why the Shahnameh Lives Forever
A thousand years on, the epic survives less through its text than through its endless visual reinvention.
Nazila Noebashari — Aaran Gallery, Tehran, 2023
A talk by Nazila Noebashari, curator and owner of Aaran Gallery (Tehran & Dubai).
British Museum, 2022
British Museum, 2022
Hamid Keshmirshekan
A curator’s talk on the Shahnameh in modern and contemporary art.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2023
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 2023
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2023
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 2023
Music and contemporary dance piece, Zahhak - the Dragon King of Persia
Music and contemporary dance piece, Zahhak - the Dragon King of Persia, Cambridge, 2014
Music piece and animation, 2022
Music piece and animation, 2022
Pembroke College Collection of KEM’s anti-Nazi caricatures
Pembroke College Collection of KEM’s anti-Nazi caricatures
Prince Zal and the Simurgh, 2012
Prince Zal and the Simurgh, 2012
Rostam in the Wonderland, 2013
Rostam in the Wonderland, 2013