Mirror mosaic draws on Iranian decorative techniques

Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Iran 1924-2019 / Lightning for Neda 2009, Installation view / The artist dedicates this work to the loving memory of her late husband Dr Abolbashar Farmanfarmaian. Purchased 2009. QAG Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Monir Shaharoudy Farmanfarmaian Estate / View full image

Fri 5 Sep 2025

Lightning for Neda 2009 doesn’t behave like an ordinary mirror. In each of the six panels that constitute the work, artist Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian (1924-2019) used over 4000 mirror shards to activate a myriad of patterns across a glittering, sublime surface that reflects a fragmented image.

Over a career that spans many decades, Farmanfarmaian created an art that is imbued with the aesthetics of her Iranian culture. Inspired by its architecture and the traditions of Islamic geometry and pattern, as well as techniques such as reverse-glass painting, mirror mosaic and relief sculpture, Farmanfarmaian has revived and adapted these forms to make startlingly original and compelling works.

Lightning for Neda 2009

The characteristic mirror mosaic of her work is an Iranian decorative form known as aineh-kari. 'The technique dates back to the 16th century, when mirrors were imported from Venice and Bohemia to Iran and arrived broken; The new owners had to find imaginative ways of recycling these shards of glass, and would set the pieces in stucco to create decorative panels with attractive multiple reflections. As well as Sufi symbolism of reflecting the self, mirror has since been associated with purity, brightness, symmetry, veracity and fortune.'^[1]

Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Iran 1924-2019 / Lightning for Neda (detail) 2009 / Mirror mosaic, reverse-glass painting, plaster on wood / Six panels: 300 x 200 x 25cm (each); 300 x 1200 x 25cm (overall) / The artist dedicates this work to the loving memory of her late husband Dr Abolbashar Farmanfarmaian. Purchased 2009. QAG Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian Estate — Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Iran 1924-2019 / *Lightning for Neda* (detail) 2009 / Mirror mosaic, reverse-glass painting, plaster on wood / Six panels: 300 x 200 x 25cm (each); 300 x 1200 x 25cm (overall) / The artist dedicates this work to the loving memory of her late husband Dr Abolbashar Farmanfarmaian. Purchased 2009. QAG Foundation / Collection: Queensland Art Gallery | Gallery of Modern Art / © Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian Estate / View full image

The work’s six panels of intricate mirror mosaic explore the geometric possibilities offered by the hexagon. Essentially abstract, Lightning for Neda draws on the Islamic use of geometry to structure and develop complex architectural ornamentation, the six sides of the hexagon provide an underlying structure, and are expanded and elaborated upon as a repeated motif. The hexagon represents the six directions of motion (up, down, front, back, right, left) and the six virtues of generosity, self-discipline, patience, determination, insight and compassion.

Lightning for Neda is one of the artist’s most ambitious works, made when she was in her eighties. The work commemorates a young woman, Neda Agha Soltan, who was killed in 2009 during pro-democracy protests in Tehran.

View Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian's Lightning for Neda 2009 in 'Wonderstruck' at the Gallery of Modern Art or delve into the captivating works on display with our weekly highlights.

Wonderstruck
28 June – 6 October 2025
Gallery of Modern Art
Gallery 1.1 (The Fairfax Gallery), Gallery 1.2 & Gallery 1.3 (Eric and Marion Taylor Gallery)
Brisbane, Australia
Free entry

Endnotes

^ Issa, Rose. Mosaics of Mirrors: Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian. Nazar Research and Cultural Institute, Tehran, 2006, pp.14-15.