Mehrdad Aref-Adib
@arefadib.bsky.social
Iranian-born, London-based fine artist, designer, and curator.
The internet forgets quickly. Platforms rise, flatten, disappear. But occasionally, it remembers just enough to return something intact.
arefadib.substack.com/p/i-did-not-...
arefadib.substack.com/p/i-did-not-...
I Did Not Know This Was the Work
Finding an early review, nearly two decades later
arefadib.substack.com
December 23, 2025 at 10:43 AM
The internet forgets quickly. Platforms rise, flatten, disappear. But occasionally, it remembers just enough to return something intact.
arefadib.substack.com/p/i-did-not-...
arefadib.substack.com/p/i-did-not-...
I love David Byrne’s music. I have loved it since the early 80s, when Talking Heads showed me that pop could think sideways. His recent @nprmusic Tiny Desk Concert reminded me why his work still matters. arefadib.substack.com/p/a-sideways...
A Sideways Way of Seeing
Returning to David Byrne’s music, forty years after Talking Heads.
arefadib.substack.com
December 2, 2025 at 11:34 AM
I love David Byrne’s music. I have loved it since the early 80s, when Talking Heads showed me that pop could think sideways. His recent @nprmusic Tiny Desk Concert reminded me why his work still matters. arefadib.substack.com/p/a-sideways...
A Red Flicker in the Bowl
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open.substack.com/pub/arefadib...
A Red Flicker in the Bowl
Spring exists to remind us that even what feels lost can learn to begin again.
open.substack.com
November 26, 2025 at 12:42 PM
A Red Flicker in the Bowl
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open.substack.com/pub/arefadib...
There are those who write and paint about nature, and there are those who fall so quietly into it that the boundary begins to dissolve. I have always felt that Sohrab Sepehri belonged to the latter. open.substack.com/pub/arefadib...
Wherever there is a leaf, my passion blossoms
On Sohrab Sepehri, the generosity of trees and the forgotten language of tenderness
open.substack.com
October 25, 2025 at 3:28 PM
There are those who write and paint about nature, and there are those who fall so quietly into it that the boundary begins to dissolve. I have always felt that Sohrab Sepehri belonged to the latter. open.substack.com/pub/arefadib...
Discover how a 19th-century prince turned the camera on himself and changed how Iran saw its own reflection.
open.substack.com/pub/arefadib...
open.substack.com/pub/arefadib...
The First Selfie of Iran
Malek Qasem Mirza: The Qajar Prince Behind Iran’s First “Selfie”
open.substack.com
October 8, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Discover how a 19th-century prince turned the camera on himself and changed how Iran saw its own reflection.
open.substack.com/pub/arefadib...
open.substack.com/pub/arefadib...
Say no to carpet bombs and bunker busters. Let's lay down carpets of peace instead!
June 22, 2025 at 3:00 PM
Say no to carpet bombs and bunker busters. Let's lay down carpets of peace instead!
When I think of #Tehran, I remember my grandma. She was amazing at making intricate lace. This image is dedicated to her. It simply says #Iran, but to me, it says so much more. I hope all the grandmas are safe tonight. Their love is the thread that holds so many of us together.
June 18, 2025 at 2:54 PM
When I think of #Tehran, I remember the people, their voices, and playing chess with my brothers. I’ve been away over 40 years, but the memories remain. I think of The Rook by Ali Akbar Sadeghi, where two kings play chess, and people are trapped between the moves, holding on to memory and hope.
June 17, 2025 at 3:31 PM
When I think of #Tehran, I remember the people, their voices, and playing chess with my brothers. I’ve been away over 40 years, but the memories remain. I think of The Rook by Ali Akbar Sadeghi, where two kings play chess, and people are trapped between the moves, holding on to memory and hope.
This is the moment before I dive into cherries, carefully setting the pits aside like trophies from battles I’ve won. I call it Jang-e Haste’i, which means “The Nuclear War.” In Persian, haste’i means both “nuclear” and “of the pit.”
June 8, 2025 at 5:27 AM
This is the moment before I dive into cherries, carefully setting the pits aside like trophies from battles I’ve won. I call it Jang-e Haste’i, which means “The Nuclear War.” In Persian, haste’i means both “nuclear” and “of the pit.”
Today’s #illustration is of my new cane and fedora. Two fractured vertebrae since late February. Pain, patience, and very slow progress. Now, a cane that carries more than just weight. It carries a story.
June 4, 2025 at 1:01 PM
Today’s #illustration is of my new cane and fedora. Two fractured vertebrae since late February. Pain, patience, and very slow progress. Now, a cane that carries more than just weight. It carries a story.
A flatbread vase holding a sabzi khordan bouquet. #sabzikhordan
May 31, 2025 at 10:48 AM
A flatbread vase holding a sabzi khordan bouquet. #sabzikhordan
"Reading brings us unknown friends." ~ Balzac
My Persian version, after Helen Oxenbury.
My Persian version, after Helen Oxenbury.
May 27, 2025 at 3:15 PM
"Reading brings us unknown friends." ~ Balzac
My Persian version, after Helen Oxenbury.
My Persian version, after Helen Oxenbury.
"Reading brings us unknown friends. "
~ Balzac
~ Balzac
May 26, 2025 at 12:03 PM
"Reading brings us unknown friends. "
~ Balzac
~ Balzac
At Cannes, Panahi spoke from the heart to all Iranians with different views. "The most important thing is our country and its freedom . Let’s reach that moment, together, when no one dares to tell us what to wear, or what we should or shouldn’t do."
May 25, 2025 at 3:30 PM
At Cannes, Panahi spoke from the heart to all Iranians with different views. "The most important thing is our country and its freedom . Let’s reach that moment, together, when no one dares to tell us what to wear, or what we should or shouldn’t do."
After 40-plus years in London, I finally put Tehran in a terrarium! Or should I say… a Tehrarium? A tiny jar full of big memories. #Tehrarium
May 24, 2025 at 10:59 AM
After 40-plus years in London, I finally put Tehran in a terrarium! Or should I say… a Tehrarium? A tiny jar full of big memories. #Tehrarium
This morning: all curled up.
Two hours later: Persian buttercup said, “I’m ready for my close-up!” #persianbuttercup
Two hours later: Persian buttercup said, “I’m ready for my close-up!” #persianbuttercup
May 23, 2025 at 9:29 AM
This morning: all curled up.
Two hours later: Persian buttercup said, “I’m ready for my close-up!” #persianbuttercup
Two hours later: Persian buttercup said, “I’m ready for my close-up!” #persianbuttercup
Forugh Farrokhzad - Thursday, June 16, 1966: Yesterday, I walked through the National Gallery instagram.com/p/DJ4pFPMNq8x/…
May 20, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Forugh Farrokhzad - Thursday, June 16, 1966: Yesterday, I walked through the National Gallery instagram.com/p/DJ4pFPMNq8x/…
Sunday Night, 17 July 1966 - London
Azizam, azizam, azizam
My darling, my darling, my darling,
I would give myself for you.
I love you, I love you,
Not for a moment do you leave my eyes.
My breath falters with your memory,
And my blood surges wildly in my heart ...
Forugh Farrokhzad
#azizam
Azizam, azizam, azizam
My darling, my darling, my darling,
I would give myself for you.
I love you, I love you,
Not for a moment do you leave my eyes.
My breath falters with your memory,
And my blood surges wildly in my heart ...
Forugh Farrokhzad
#azizam
May 10, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Sunday Night, 17 July 1966 - London
Azizam, azizam, azizam
My darling, my darling, my darling,
I would give myself for you.
I love you, I love you,
Not for a moment do you leave my eyes.
My breath falters with your memory,
And my blood surges wildly in my heart ...
Forugh Farrokhzad
#azizam
Azizam, azizam, azizam
My darling, my darling, my darling,
I would give myself for you.
I love you, I love you,
Not for a moment do you leave my eyes.
My breath falters with your memory,
And my blood surges wildly in my heart ...
Forugh Farrokhzad
#azizam
Two kinds of bouquets: one for the eyes, one for the hands.
#StillLife
#StillLife
May 10, 2025 at 8:43 AM
Two kinds of bouquets: one for the eyes, one for the hands.
#StillLife
#StillLife
This little heart-shaped potato totally made my day! What unexpected joys have popped up in your day? Tell me your little joys in the comments.
April 26, 2025 at 5:26 AM
This little heart-shaped potato totally made my day! What unexpected joys have popped up in your day? Tell me your little joys in the comments.
Pretty surreal seeing myself as an action figure!
April 8, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Pretty surreal seeing myself as an action figure!
Visited the Hamburger Kunsthalle and spotted this painting by Johann Heinrich Füssli, a Swiss artist who spent most of his life in Britain. He painted Ed Sheeran about to sing Azizam centuries before it was even released.
April 6, 2025 at 4:03 AM
Visited the Hamburger Kunsthalle and spotted this painting by Johann Heinrich Füssli, a Swiss artist who spent most of his life in Britain. He painted Ed Sheeran about to sing Azizam centuries before it was even released.
Persian Paradise Garden in Waterlow Park, Highgate
April 4, 2025 at 5:29 PM
Persian Paradise Garden in Waterlow Park, Highgate
If you come to visit me. Tread gently and softly; Lest you break the fragile shell of my loneliness. Sohrab Sepehri
April 3, 2025 at 9:14 PM
If you come to visit me. Tread gently and softly; Lest you break the fragile shell of my loneliness. Sohrab Sepehri