On Thursday, April 30, from 5 PM to 8 PM, Studio la Linea Verticale is proud to inaugurate Mater Ex Mater – Act I, a solo exhibition by Navid Azimi Sajadi (Tehran, 1982). Divided into two acts due to the impossibility of completing the original production under current geopolitical conditions, the exhibition is accompanied by a text written by the artist. This personal account weaves together poetic and intellectual reflection with a chronicle of the events that, over the past two years, hindered the project’s conclusion. Studio la Linea Verticale will provide a brief introduction to the artist's poetics in relation to our gallery’s ongoing research. The exhibition will remain open until June 4. Abstract In the project Mater Ex Mater, Sajadi transforms his research on dualistic thought into a plastic and spiritual experience, where the artwork becomes a synthesis of East and West. Through an inquiry spanning Gnosticism, dualism, and the cult of Mithras, the artist explores matter not merely as a medium, but as a living body and a sensitive "threshold": a generative womb that is, simultaneously, a place of imprisonment and potential liberation. The artist writes: «The title itself, Mater Ex Mater, evokes origin and provenance, but also distance: that which is born of the Mater and that which detaches itself from it, carrying the memory and the conflict of separation. [...] Each work lives within the paradox between creation and captivity, light and shadow, form and spirit. As in Gnosticism, matter is at once sacred space and the site of the fall.» In this dialectic, the chosen materials—ceramic, copper, paper, carpets—act as conductors of memory. Sajadi’s practice goes beyond an aesthetic citation of Persian tradition; it reactivates its profound essence by embedding contemporary concepts into artifacts that preserve the weight of time and craftsmanship, such as the carpets produced in the Mozafariyeh district of Tabriz under his direct supervision. However, the current display represents only half of a larger body of work. The exhibition is presented as Act I specifically because of a forced rupture: the geopolitical events of January 2025 in Tehran imposed a separation between the artist and his production. What the public observes is the result of a necessary rescue—an initial invitational configuration composed of works that Sajadi managed to move out of Iran before the conflict made the completion of the original plan impossible. «Plans did not unfold as expected; what is presented today is an initial installation layout featuring carpets, ceramics, drawings, and carpet cartoons. In 2025, I began a study on carpet production in Tabriz, at the bazaar in the Mozafariyeh district—one of the most significant sites for the Persian carpet tradition. Here, my designs were “translated” and transformed under my direct supervision.» In this configuration, the work becomes both testimony and tension: a "first act" that bears the mark of urgency and the anticipation of a future reunion, transforming the fragility of a historical moment into a geography of cultural resistance. ««My intention is to be a contemporary artist with an identity that is both Iranian and universal. Mater Ex Mater – Act I is not just an exhibition: it is a collection of traces—not only matter, but voice. A body that speaks, contains, and resists; a mother-matter from which, at the same time, we seek emancipation.»