Farideh Lashai

I don't want to be a tree; I want to be its meaning
Still from “I don't want to be a tree; I want to be its meaning." by Farideh Lashai 2007

Fadrideh Lashai (Born in Rasht, 1944 - 2013) was a multimedia artist. She had been painting more than forty years and having held 25 solo exhibitions and participating in more than 80 group exhibitions she was one of the most active Iranian female visual artists known. A lover of literature in general and having studied German literature, she translated several plays by the famous German playwright Berthold Brecht (1968-2008); an activity she had to abandon after choosing painting as her career. She was a writer too and her last novel Shal Bamu, published a few years ago became a best-seller and attracted the attention of Iranian literary circles.  In recent years she was also active in the field of video art and multimedia installations. Her presence in international art auctions together with her brilliant valuable works and her successes on a global scale has turned her into one of the most well-known pioneers of visual arts not only in the Persian Gulf region and the Middle East, but also in Europe and America.