When we leave the place of our birth, many things invariably change, we find ourselves uprooted and without landmarks, only the sky remains the same and becomes the anchor that ties us to our origins.
In Shojaian's earlier works, we see an attempt to paint an image of the male body in a different way from that imposed by society. The image of a strong, muscular body that follows the imposed form of masculinity in order to serve a certain ideology.
In the Sous Le Ciel De Shiraz series, we are confronted with a more colorful set of works than before. As if the eye-catching power of the Persian miniature helped to soften the darkness of the stories. Shojaian references Persian heritage by using characters from Persian literature, most notably Shahnameh, the Book of Kings, by Ferdowsi (between 977 and 1010 CE).
The father, Rostam, appears in various settings that tell stories of escape, entrapment, sadness and happiness. The artist's aim is to enjoy a new composition of two worlds that don't easily come together. The challenge is to fuse the singularity of Persian miniatures with the realistic world of European art.
In this story, Rostam, the father, represents the patriarchy against which the artist fights through his art. The father experiences deep regret after killing his own child. In the artist's narrative, a counter-story to the main one, the demons (Deev) form an alliance with the men in the paintings to prevent the father from reaching the point of regret over the murder of his child.
