Abdollah Nafisi MRSS

Abdollah Nafisi [b.1982] is an Iranian born sculptor based in West Sussex. Born in Tehran, he spent six years travelling with the nomads and tribes of the deserts, studying their craft heritage and direct responses to landscape. Working primarily with locally sourced wood - altered through carving, bending and charring - he explores the parallel ecologies of nature and of man, reflecting on our moments of connection and dis-connection. 

Inspired by David Nash, Nafisi fuses traditional Japanese joinery techniques with the poetry and humility of untreated timber. He views nature as an ever-evolving musical improvisation,  reflecting on the conflicting ideologies within modernity and our need to return to nature. It often includes certain themes: grid structures symbolize connections in culture and nature, metal elements show glimpses of industry, and organic wooden forms reveal the hidden language of nature’s rooted networks. This encourages discussions about our relationship with the land and the urgency to reclaim the practices and wisdom of our ancestors.

Nafisi's work aims to gesture towards a liminal horizon, beyond a Utopian or Dystopian vision. His techniques fuse the exactitude of craftsmanship with a conceptual commentary on man’s place in the world.

"I always imagine the future in the solution, and work practically towards achieving an artistic form of my vision. I want my work to expose the truth in a raw and provocative way; but I also want it to instill hope and a sense of empowerment in those that view it. I hope that my contribution to sculpture will fuse these narratives; demonstrating the two sides of our nature: functional, mathematical and concrete, yet fluid, spontaneous and regenerative."