Malekeh Nayiny’s series Traveling Demons explores the strata of identity and memory through the prism of the imaginary. Nayiny often relies on personal archives and reworked images to create poetic and sometimes surreal compositions. In this series, Naviny summons masked figures, hybrid beings whose human faces give way to strange creatures or enigmatic patterns. These demons, far from being scary, resemble interieur allegories, travelling companions who embody invisible doubts, memories, latent desires. The transformation of these entities over time translates a wider reflection on the evolution of our own ghosts. Initially perceived as grotesque and inoffensive in childhood, they become vague and worrying shadows in adulthood, before being reinterpreted in a more fantastical, almost burlesque light.
EXHIBITION
MALEKEH NAYINY (IR)
Artothèque / Quai des Arts, Vitré
Exhibition from October 30 to December 31, 2025
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Iranian photographer Malekeh Nayiny was born in 1955 in Teheran and studied fine art at Syracuse University (1974-1978) followed by advanced photography at the International Center of Photography in New York (1980-1982). She has lived and worked in Paris since 1990. Her work has been exhibited all over the world, notably in London, Teheran, Madrid, Dubai, New Deli, Zurich and Turin. Several renowned museums and institutions have added her pieces to their collections, including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Smithsonian Institution (Washington), the British Museum (London), the Nicéphore Niépce Museum, Louis Vuitton Foundation and Fnac.
Malekeh Nayiny (IR)
« TRAVELLING DEMONS »
Exhibition from October 30 to December 31, 2025
Free
Exhibition open outdoors 24/7
Artothèque / Quai des Arts
1 Rue du Bourg aux Moines
Vitré