Press images
High-resolution files are available on request. The images below may be used in coverage of the artist with the credit "© Alireza Hemadani".
Press & information
Artist statement
Each original is drawn once, by hand, on a single sheet of Bristol board, usually over forty to a hundred hours or more.
My subjects begin with a feeling that stays with me: a memory that refuses to fade, a wild animal met on a river bank, a person I want to honour, events unfolding in the country I left as a child. The slowness of coloured pencil, layer over layer, one evening at a time, is part of why I love it.
Biography
Alireza Hemadani (b. 1991, Shiraz, Iran) is a self-taught British-Iranian artist based in Bristol, United Kingdom. He left Iran for England in 2006 and began drawing in graphite, teaching himself across two decades of quiet practice. His transition to colour began with an inheritance: the vintage Faber-Castell pencil set of a late friend's mother, entrusted to him by her family.
He works exclusively in Caran d'Ache coloured pencil on Bristol board, producing a small number of finished works each year alongside a full-time career in renewable energy. His subjects range from wildlife encountered on his travels, including the wild jaguars of the Brazilian Pantanal, photographed alongside his wife, wildlife filmmaker Roxy Hemadani, to portraiture and works of witness, such as his response to the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement in Iran.
His originals are one of a kind and are not reproduced.
At a glance
Born
1991, Shiraz, Iran
Based
Bristol, United Kingdom
Medium
Caran d'Ache coloured pencil on Bristol board
Practice
Self-taught · 40 to 100+ hours per work · Original drawings
Press images
High-resolution files are available on request. The images below may be used in coverage of the artist with the credit "© Alireza Hemadani".
Press enquiries
studio@hemadani.com
