大象传媒

Nostalgia. Sentimentality for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations. But what if this sweet, warm, and fuzzy feeling was exploited by world leaders, and used as a tool to manipulate the masses?

That鈥檚 what Afshin Naghouni, a London-based Iranian-born British visual artist, believes has been happening around the world, with increasingly terrifying consequences. Through the rhetoric of the 鈥済ood old days鈥�, and an insistence on returning to the heyday of a 鈥済lorious鈥� past, Afshin believes that some world leaders are tugging on nations鈥� collective nostalgic heartstrings to further their own agendas, and he explores this in his art.

Reporter Sahar Zand visits Afshin鈥檚 studio in West London, to find out how, for his new collection, the artist will paint this 鈥渃ollective nostalgic feeling鈥� for a past we don鈥檛 remember correctly or haven鈥檛 personally experienced, drawn in our head by some external force. Having had to adapt and relearn how to paint after a life-changing accident, and vowing never to reveal what exactly each piece is depicting, mystery, and the overcoming of adversity, exist alongside imagined nostalgia as vital components in his vivid and evocative artworks.

Reporter/Producer: Sahar Zand
Executive Producer: Rebecca Armstrong for the 大象传媒 World Service