In this installation, three grasshopper sculptures, an oil painting on canvas and two collage pieces are placed side by side. These collages include a combination of various photos and colored paper, designed in the vanitas illustration genre.
Vanitas is a genre of painting from the 16th and 17th centuries that depicts the transience of life, the instability of worldly pleasures, and the certainty of death, often using symbols of mortality such as skulls, hourglasses, animals, and insects.
For the oil painting in this installation, Mirmohamad Fatahi drew inspiration from "Persimmons and Grasshopper" by the 18th century Japanese painter Katsushika Hokusai, exploring the thematic connections between vanitas paintings and Ukiyo-e painters.
The combination of grasshopper sculptures with oil paintings and collages, along with the use of various materials and techniques, add to the complexity of this installation. The grasshoppers, as symbols of threat and destruction, stand in contrast with the other works, created using vibrant colors and images of nature.
Thus, the artist, by presenting this installation, aims to remind us of the coexistence of life and death and to address issues surrounding the inseparability of death from life.