Mandalas of the soul

2008/8/30

Please join Gizella Varga Sinai and Ferial Sarafshour on Saturday 30 August 2008 at 4pm for a private view of MANDALAS OF THE SOUL, an exhibition of works of art created by the young women of the Omid-e-Mehr Foundation in Tehran during workshops conducted by Gizella Varga Sinai in 2007 and 2008. All exhibited works of art are for sale. One hundred percent of the sales proceeds from the exhibition will go to support Omid’s artistic programs and activities.

The Artists:

Maryam Abdollahi, Afsaneh Akhtarmohammadi, Leila Gholami, Nazanin Gholami, Shirin Golrezai, Zohreh Hamrang, Somayeh Himekesh, Marjan Hosseini, Soghrah Jazih, Marjan Judi, Neda Khani, Niloufar Heidari, Leila Mafi, Arezou Mehr, Maria Mehr, Susan Najafi, Marjan Nasseri, Forouzan Parvani, Nadya Parvani, Safieh Rassouli, Shamin Rassouli, Shakiba Rezai, Latifeh Safarzadeh, Soheila Salehi, Mitra Salimi, Mahboubeh Samadi, Maryam Shakeri, Shokou Sheiki, Noushin Tayebi, Mona Teimouri, Zahrah Touluhsadeghi, Fariba Zahebdad, Zeinab Zarei, Zohreh Zarifi.

The Workshops and the Exhibition:

Gizella Varga Sinai has used ‘mandala’ painting workshops as an effective therapeutical and spiritual teaching tool over many years. In addition to various workshops in Iran, Gizella has conducted workshops in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Finland, France, and Hungary during the last five years. Participants have varied from place to place and have included refugee kids, women from Africa, cancer patients, marginalized high school girls, etc.

The works presented in this exhibition are the results of two ‘mandala’ painting workshops conducted in 2007 and 2008 at the Omid-e-Mehr Foundation. They are the outcome of a beautiful journey to a sacred space.

The word ‘mandala’ is of Hindu origin, and comes to us from the Sanskrit language, where it has two meanings: ‘essence’ and ‘containing’; or ‘completion’ and ‘circle-circumference’, both derived from the Tibetan term ‘dkyil khor’. But a ‘mandala’ is far more than a simple circular shape. It represents wholeness, and can be seen as a model for the organizational structure of life itself — a cosmic diagram that reminds us of our relation to the infinite, the world that extends both beyond and within our bodies and minds.

The integrated view of the world represented by the ‘mandala’, while long embraced by some Eastern religions, has now begun to emerge in Western religious and secular cultures. Awareness of the ‘mandala’ may change how we see ourselves, our planet, and perhaps even our own life purpose. The symbolic nature of the ‘mandala’ can help one to access progressively deeper levels of the unconscious, ultimately assisting the meditator to experience a mystical sense of oneness with the ultimate unity from which the cosmos in all its manifold forms arises. The psychoanalyst Carl Jung saw the ‘mandala’ as a representation of the unconscious self, and believed his paintings of ‘mandalas’ enabled him to identify emotional disorders and work towards wholeness in personality. The wide-spread interest in the ‘mandala’ within the Western world today is very much linked to Jung’s work and interest in the subject matter.

Gizella Varga Sinai:

Gizella was born in Hungary in 1944. She studied Art Education at the ‘Akademie for Angewandte Kunst’ in Vienna/Austria and came to Iran in 1967. Her Hungarian background made her feel at home in Iran. Hungarian historians presume that they belong to a people that have migrated from the East. Nostalgia for the Orient as an ancestral homeland is thus an ever-present theme in the works of Hungarian poets and painters. In Iran Gizella always sensed a strong awareness about a heroic past. As an artist she was driven to pursue the tie between the past and present and to show it in her paintings. She is always trying to understand where the old myths, fables, and stories come from. How we can express that they are still alive in us, and will continue to do so in the future. Her works have been exhibited widely. In addition to painting she has been also teaching and conducting workshops for more than a quarter century. She is a member of the Society of Iranian Painters and of the Dena Group. Click here to access Gizellla’s website.

The Exhibition Catalogue:

Click here to download the exhibition catalogue, which shows all the works of art and prices. Prices shown are for delivery at the Day Gallery.

Omid-e-Mehr:

The Omid-e-Mehr Foundation was established in 2004. Its mission is to strengthen the social, emotional, and economic competencies of disadvantaged young Iranian and Afghani women (aged from 15 to 25) in Iran, providing them with a sense of self-worth and with the opportunities to experience a full range of life options through self-empowerment, education and training. Its clients have typically either been put into care from an early age, or run away from abusive homes, or live in extreme poverty. They often suffer from severe mental health and emotional difficulties, mostly stemming from their experiences of neglect, physical and sexual abuse, and exposure to drugs and violence. Omid values and nurtures the voices, hearts, and minds of these underprivileged and vulnerable young women and helps them transform their lives. At Omid, we believe that through love and care in the context of sustained relationships where practical and emotional needs are addressed, our young clients will be able to overcome the traumas of the past and will eventually be able to take responsibility for their emotions and behaviour. Starting with a small group of 15 clients in 2004, Omid now caters to approximately 75 clients at any one time, more than a quarter of whom are Afghani immigrants. Click here to access Omid’s website in order to find out more about our programs and how you can get involved. Click here to download Omid’s latest annual report.

Acknowledgements:

Our special thanks go to Gizella Varga Sinai and Ferial Sarafshour (director of the Day Gallery) without whom none of this would be possible. On behalf of all the girls in our care, a big thank you.

Exhibition Venue and Opening Hours:

30 August 4-9pm, 31 August & 1 September 4-8pm.
<�BR>Day Gallery, No. 3 Taraneh Deadend, Naz One Alley, Tangestan Four Street, Pasdaran Street, Niavaran, Tehran, Iran. +98 (21) 22285299.

Additional Information and Sales Enquiries:

Day Gallery, +98 (21) 22285299, info@dayartgallery.com.
Gizella Varga Sinai, +98 (21) 88092901, gizella_vargasinai@yahoo.com.

Please notify info@omid-e-mehr.org if you do not wish to receive any further communications about the work and activities of the Omid-e-Mehr or Omid Foundation.