Anita Hashemi moghaddam | "Survival": Dastan:Outside x 8Cube x Vali Gallery

Dastan:Outside, in collaboration with Vali Gallery, is pleased to announce "Survival", a solo exhibition by Anita Hashemi Moghaddam at 8Cube Gallery, on view from September 18 through October 9, 2026.
"Survival" is a reflection on the price of living: a cursed gift where release from threat does not equate to freedom, but rather an entry into the cycle of trauma's repetition. In the triptych panels, the ropes are severed, yet the fists remain clenched and contracted - a threshold where the distinction between captivity and release dissolves. This physical constriction can be read alongside the psychoanalytic concept of "repetition compulsion": an unconscious drive to relive the shock, attempting to master through repetition what was once overwhelming. This continuum of containment manifests within the video installation inside the metal structure, where intersecting threads and layered mirror reflections strip the form of stability, entrapping the body within a suspended space of endless replication.

Anita Hashemi Moghaddam (b. 1982, Tehran) is a visual and interdisciplinary artist. She holds a B.A. in Graphic Design and an M.A. in Illustration. Her practice engages with lived experience, the body, and psychological tension across video art, installation, and photography. Her solo exhibitions include "Living Creature" at Soo Contemporary (Tehran, 2024) and "Epidermis" at Vali Gallery (Tehran, 2021). Her work has also been presented at Teer Art Fair with Vali Gallery (Tehran, 2019), the "Golden Bee" International Biennale of Graphic Design in Moscow (2010 and 2014), and numerous group exhibitions across Iran, France, and Italy.