From Intercultural Dialogue to a Global Imaginary: A Review of Hossein Valamanesh’s Artworks

The artistic trajectory of Iranian-Australian artist Hossein Valamanesh unfolds as a quest for the elusive “Third Space”, bridging his original and adoptive homes. Rooted in Persian mystic poetry, his work explores the unattainability of home and love, emphasising the intrinsic meaning of travel for self-discovery. Employing Biographical and Transcultural Image Studies approaches, this chapter delves into his system of personal symbology, derived from his Iranian childhood. Revisiting his travels with Aboriginal people, where he explored his “own Dreaming Story” to initiate a conversation, brings us back to the origin of his lifelong challenge of weaving together the historical strands of two very distant geographies in a journey of self-discovery. From there, the chapter compares four key artworks across his career, analysing them through the prisms of his subjective feelings of belonging in narratives, a multisensory expression of home and belonging and the dynamic process of identity construction, in order to unravel his deepening connection with his new society, reflecting the transformation of his identity and belonging. Through this, I also aim to narrate Valamanesh’s artistic interrogations of mental dwelling, memories of home, intimate feelings of affiliation and at-homeness, borders and geography, along with how he dealt with the “burden of representation” by considering how historical events intersected with his 50 years of migration.