Farid Jahangir’s portraits are empty of a world. If there is a space around these people, it is only there to contribute form or pigment to the canvass. This space, therefore, does not constitute a “world” and is not available as a “world”. It is unimportant where these people are, from which space they draw their breath, who they are or what they have in mind. The fact that they exist, their mere being, seems sufficient. They do not enter a cycle of exchange: neither with the world, nor with the painter, and not even with our curious gaze. Like the mountains, they do not acquire their being through our gaze. They are there, whether we exist or not, whether we gaze upon them or avert our gaze. Their being is predicated upon something other than being seen.

Mani Haghighi