This is how Iranian artist Sepideh Mirzaei describes the central symbol of her recent body of work, presented at Khat-e Sefid Gallery.
The series explores the concept of the “inner guardian”—a presence standing between consciousness and the unconscious, guiding the process of individual self-knowledge. The idea emerged when Mirzaei noticed the cat repeatedly appearing in her early sketches without a conscious decision. What began as an unexpected recurring image gradually developed into the silent narrator of the series.
For Mirzaei, the cat is a metaphor for silence, care, alertness, and hidden presence, as well as the moment when a person encounters the quiet yet powerful part of their inner self. She draws on Iranian calligraphic painting, the symbolic perspective of Eastern art, and her personal experiences of self-discovery.
Created through an abstract-figurative approach, the works combine calligraphic painting and free forms, using layers of luminous, misty colors and elongated lines. By removing the cat’s naturalistic details, Mirzaei transforms it from an animal into what she describes as a “mental sign.”
The artist traces this process back to the moment she realized that the cat was appearing in her sketches as if “my mind had chosen it before I did.” By following this unconscious presence, she reached personal experiences that needed visual expression. Gradually, the cat became the silent narrator of the series.
Through this body of work, Mirzaei seeks to transform a familiar symbol into a broader world of meaning—one in which the cat exists not as an animal or a figure, but as a quiet presence between the conscious and unconscious, carrying the idea of an inner guardian.
