By S. Ghilzai & Abdullah Qazi / October 28, 2018
Last updated: November 4, 2018 by Abdullah Qazi
Elena Noroozi (ایلینا نوروزی) is an Afghan realist painter.
Elena Noroozi was born on January 1, 1995, in Turkey, where her family fled because of the instability and war in Afghanistan. Luckily, they consistently pushed Noroozi to create when they saw her talent, and always exalted her. Noroozi started painting as a child, influenced heavily by Italian artists, she started drawing still life’s. Mostly self-taught, she began lessons for painting at the age of twelve. Once she started studying under the renowned Turkish sculptor and painter, Özer Çağlar, in 2009, then did Noroozi enroll in the Fine Art University of Istanbul. She won the third prize in all of Turkey for her artistry, named in Turkish “Bir Asirlik Destan Çanakkal.” She has since graduated with a Fine Art degree, received an international honorable mention award from the city of Gaziantep in Turkey, as well as started to exhibit her paintings in the United States of America. She left Turkey for the United States, and currently lives in San Diego, California.
Noroozi uses three specific techniques or themes in her art; nude art, pop art, and art rooted in typography. As of now, she is working with David Edery’s gallery of Fine Art Furnishings and Objects of Art, whilst teaching both oil painting and drawing by pencil. She claims, in regards to her life and her art, ‘when there is a wish, there is a way’, a play on the idiom “when there is a will, there is a way.”
Noroozi attempts to capture the essence of Afghan women – be it their difficulties or their achievements. She is also interested in capturing the raw beauty of Afghanistan, to be able to show the world her artistic re-creation of her own Afghanistan. Finally, Noroozi strives to show the plight people living in a country that is not their own, yearning to go back, but knowing it isn’t possible, and this is also her destiny. For such a young yet talented and informed young lady, we can only hope to see an extremely beautiful trajectory of art depicting the raw beauty of our beloved homeland and its people.
Quotes from Elena Noroozi
“For certain things that cannot be made to understand using the spoken word, I want to show and teach using my art”
“With everyone of my paintings, I have a message”
“Every artist must be free to do their work”
Source: BBC Dari interview – July 20, 2018
Paintings by Elena Noroozi
Videos on Elena Noroozi
For more information
- Elena Noroozi’s official Facebook
- Elena Noroozi’s official Twitter
- Elena Noroozi’s official Instagram
- Elena Noroozi’s official business website