In the heart of Paris, tucked inside a sunlit atelier lined with canvases, sketches, and books, the Iranian-Kurdish visual artist Nasser Ghazizadeh reflects on a career spanning continents and eras.

A graduate of the Sorbonne and a long-time resident of France, Ghazizadeh is a towering figure in contemporary art, known for his contributions to its theoretical evolution and his unwavering commitment to art as a medium of thought and resistance.

In this conversation, Ghazizadeh speaks with cultural writer Hameh Hashem, tracing the arc of his artistic development from realism to conceptual and postmodern art, while grounding his identity and artistic philosophy in the socio-political realities of Kurdish life.

From the object to the idea

When asked about his first encounters with European art upon arriving in France nearly four decades ago, Ghazizadeh describes a sense of fascination with visual design and plastic arts, a field rapidly evolving under the pressures of modernism and postmodernism.

“Art was no longer only about form,” he recalls. “It became about ideas, about the meaning behind the work rather than its materiality.”

For Ghazizadeh, this shift was symbolized by artists like Marcel Duchamp, whose now-iconic Fountain – a porcelain urinal repurposed as art – challenged viewers to rethink the very definition of artistic value. “Is it art?” Ghazizadeh echoes rhetorically. “It forced us to ask what art could be.”

This formed the foundation of conceptual art, which Ghazizadeh traces to figures like Henry Flynt, who, in the early 1960s, pushed the boundaries of what art could communicate. “Today,” he says, “we’ve come to see the idea as the core of the artwork. The object, in some cases, is secondary.”

Art as social mirror

Yet, for all his admiration of European conceptualism, Ghazizadeh insists that art cannot be separated from its social context, particularly for artists who, like him, carry the weight of historical and cultural struggle.

“As Kurds,” he says, “we cannot ignore our societal and national realities. Even if contemporary art in Europe appears apolitical, it often opens space for political and social dialogue.”

This tension – between abstraction and urgency, between aesthetic freedom and political commitment – defines Ghazizadeh’s approach to contemporary art. He sees the work of Christo and Jeanne-Claude, who famously wrapped buildings and landmarks in fabric, not as aesthetic spectacles but as subtle political provocations.

“Their work asked questions,” Ghazizadeh notes. “What do we see? What do we hide? What do we value in public space?”

Postmodernism as resistance

Ghazizadeh is clear: postmodernism is not apolitical. On the contrary, he sees it as an artistic language uniquely suited to confronting the complexities of the modern world.

“Postmodernism rejects singular truths,” he explains. “It dismantles the notion that art must conform to established forms. Instead, it becomes a tool that is not always loud, but deeply critical.”

For Ghazizadeh, postmodern art’s refusal to be easily categorized is precisely what makes it powerful. “It disrupts, it questions, it invites the viewer to think – not just look.”

But can this artistic philosophy find a home in Kurdish expression? Ghazizadeh answers without hesitation: “Definitely.”

He believes the tools of postmodernism – fragmentation, irony, conceptual subversion – are uniquely aligned with the Kurdish experience. “Our history is filled with loss, displacement, resistance. We need not imitate European models but must adapt these methods to express our own stories,” he exhorts.

Kurdish artists, must use these forms not to obscure their messages, but to sharpen them. “Art is how we make ourselves seen. Our identity, our politics, our culture – they all belong on the canvas, even if the canvas is invisible.”

Art as a living idea

As the conversation draws to a close, Ghazizadeh returns to a central idea: art must engage with the world.

“I see myself as someone who works with ideas,” he says. “Whether those ideas are political, cultural, or personal – it doesn’t matter. What matters is that they speak to the times we live in.”

For Ghazizadeh, the journey from realism to postmodernism has been more than a stylistic evolution; it has been a philosophical one. His art, like his words, insists that expression without meaning is hollow.

“In the end,” he says quietly, “art is not just what we make. It’s what we dare to ask.”

Hameh Hashem is a Kurdish artist and writer based in Erbil, Kurdistan Region.