Mamali Shafahi's 'Phantasmagoria: Daddy Kills More People' at The Breeder, Athens

The Breeder gallery in Athens presents Mamali Shafahi's first solo exhibition in the city, 'Phantasmagoria: Daddy Kills More People'. Shafahi, a visual artist and filmmaker, works across sculpture, performance, and video installation, focusing on how new technologies transform experience. His ongoing 'Daddy Sperm' project, begun in 2012, explores the miracle of life and generational transmission. For this project, Shafahi collaborated with his father, Reza Shafahi, a retired wrestler, asking him to draw. The father's imagery appears in Shafahi's 'Heirloom Velvet' sculptures and installations. The exhibition title references phantasmagoria, a term describing the blurring of reality and imagination in contemporary visual entertainment. Shafahi translates his father's naive drawings into flocked epoxy hand-sculpted faces, paying homage to Iranian heritage. The installation includes fluorescent grids that interact with UV and white light, creating an achronic, digital-like environment through analog means. 'Daddy' symbolizes power and patriarchy; the title 'Daddy Kills More People' reflects political movements in Iran and comments on global power structures. The exhibition offers an escape into fantasy, reminding viewers of the mind's possibilities.