Faezeh Valadan Zoej

What is your expression?
I am an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of traditional and contemporary artistic practices. My work spans drawing, installation, text, light, sound, and video.

With a background in artistic research, my work engages with universal themes, intertwining cultural philosophies and blending concepts and materials from both Eastern and Western traditions. By extending the language of drawing into installation, I create bridges between reality and dream, challenging conventional perceptions both conceptually and through method. My works invite viewers into a physical and perceptual dialogue, where the boundary between image, space, and experience becomes fluid.

What inspires you?
I am inspired by the relationship between myth and reality, and how memory, dream, identity, and perception are shaped through this tension.
I draw from both Eastern and Western philosophical traditions, seeking connection across cultural frameworks. I am also deeply influenced by patterns and rhythms found in nature, branches, flowing water, strands, as well as by light and shadow, which shape how forms emerge, shift, and are experienced over time.

How would you describe your art?
My artistic practice revolves around continuity, transformation, and the shifting nature of perception. A recurring element in my work is the idea of a line or form that reappears and transforms across different media and spaces.
In earlier projects such as Creation in Ashes and Dream.Memory.Reality, I explore transformation through fragmentation, memory, and nonlinear time. In Creation in Ashes, destruction becomes a generative force, where new forms emerge through dissolution. In Dream.Memory.Reality, I investigate how memory and dreams reshape reality, creating layered and unstable perceptions of time and identity.
In recent years, my practice has developed through the ongoing series Dim Rhythm, which has become a central line of inquiry. This series evolves through light-responsive installations, where I work at the intersection of drawing, sculpture, and installation. Here, drawing extends into architecture, light, and time, transforming line and shadow into active, temporal elements.
Through Dim Rhythm, I explore interconnectedness, empathy, and transformation. Organic motifs such as branches, streams, hair, and fingerprint-like patterns recur as metaphors for cultural and emotional bonds. Architecture is not treated as a backdrop, but as an integral part of the drawing itself.
More recent works, such as Dim Rhythm: Unfinished Story, introduce a participatory dimension, allowing the work to evolve through interaction with the audience. Alongside this, I am developing Suspended Rhythm, a sculptural extension where line becomes three-dimensional form, exploring stillness and motion, presence and absence, fragility and resilience.
Across my work, I am drawn to fragile and open states, where meaning is not fixed but shaped through the relationship between artwork, space, and viewer.

Why did you end up living where you are?
Because Oslo offers a balance between stillness and artistic engagement. It provides space for concentration and long-term development, while still allowing access to meaningful artistic dialogue and opportunities.

What do you like about the artscene and the place?
The closeness to nature and the possibility for focus are important to me. At the same time, the local art scene is engaged and supportive, allowing for direct and meaningful exchanges.

What could be better in the local artscene?
I would like to see more spaces dedicated to experimentation and interdisciplinary practices, contexts where process, risk, and exploration are prioritized alongside finished exhibitions. I also see a need for more accessible studio spaces for artists.

What are you currently working on?
I am currently developing Dim Rhythm and its sculptural extension Suspended Rhythm as evolving installation-based projects. These works investigate the relationship between light, shadow, space, and perception through layered materials such as paper, papier-mâché, gypsum, and fine-liner ink.
The projects are connected to upcoming exhibitions, including presentations at Østlandsutstillingen, Tegnerforbundet, and an exhibition at Drøbak Kunstforening in 2027.

What are your ambitions and plans for the future?
I aim to further develop large-scale, light-responsive installations and present my work in both national and international contexts. I am also interested in expanding my practice through interdisciplinary collaborations and continuing to explore new materials and methods.

Who of your colleagues deserves more attention?
I would like to highlight Morten Almaas. His work demonstrates a strong sensitivity to material and form, combined with a thoughtful and consistent artistic inquiry. There is a quiet intensity in his practice that unfolds over time and rewards close attention.