Morteza Khazaie: Upside Down

Curated by Farshad Mahoutforoush

April 15 – September 15, 2025 | Leila Heller Gallery, Dubai

Leila Heller Gallery is proud to present Upside Down, a solo exhibition by acclaimed Iranian artist Morteza Khazaie, curated by Farshad Mahoutforoush. Opening on April 15, 2025, in Dubai, this evocative exhibition runs through September 15, inviting viewers into a contemplative journey through transformation, resilience, and the quiet power of adaptation.

In Upside Down, Khazaie draws inspiration from the natural world—specifically, the strength and flexibility of trees. Bent by wind and storms yet unbroken, these natural forms become metaphors for the human condition. Just as trees curve in response to external forces, so too do people adapt, shift, and grow under the weight of social, emotional, and existential pressures.

Khazaie’s sculptural works, masterfully rendered in wood, explore this tension between fragility and endurance. The material itself—organic, tactile, and timeworn—serves as both medium and message. Wood, once a living part of nature, carries within it the marks of time, weather, and memory. In Khazaie’s hands, it becomes a vessel for storytelling, bearing witness to both internal and collective transformations.

The exhibition is deeply rooted in poetic introspection. It looks not only at personal change but also at the larger societal metamorphoses shaping contemporary life. Khazaie captures this duality with an emotional subtlety that is both intimate and expansive. His works do not shout—they breathe. They sway like trees in a storm, whispering stories of survival, endurance, and new beginnings.

Curator Farshad Mahoutforoush brings a nuanced lens to this exhibition, highlighting the artist’s ability to bridge nature and the human psyche through a language of form that is both ancient and modern. The curved silhouettes of Khazaie’s sculptures resist rigidity and embrace fluidity, reminding us that there is beauty—and strength—in yielding.

Upside Down ultimately invites us to reflect: How do we respond when the world shifts beneath our feet? Can we bend without breaking? And in the aftermath of upheaval, what new forms might we take?

Through this collection, Morteza Khazaie offers a compelling answer—one rooted in quiet resilience, shaped by nature, and elevated through art.