Ghosts of the Future and Unfulfilled Promises: “Not Yet Gone” at Shiva Zahed Gallery

Behind Shiva Zahed Gallery, which opened its doors in Beyoğlu, Pera last February, lies a deeply personal and compelling story that transcends borders. Shiva Zahed, a medical doctor trained in Iran, was confronted with a thought-provoking question upon arriving in Istanbul: “We all know Picasso, but why are master artists from our own geography not globally recognized?” The impulse to carve out an independent space for Iranian artists struggling to access the global art market due to sanctions, visa barriers, and international banking restrictions—and to serve as a bridge fostering dialogue with the world—forms the gallery’s foundational ethos.

The exhibition “Not Yet Gone,” presented by the gallery from September 18 to November 7, 2026, complements this background with a striking conceptual framework. Drawing on the philosophy of hauntology formulated by Jacques Derrida and Mark Fisher, the selection centers on the lingering reality that unrealized dreams, deferred futures, and lost possibilities quietly continue to shape the present. As articulated in the exhibition catalog: “Something is coming back… Neither a full memory nor an image. Something caught between promise and reality.”

The seven Iranian artists featured in the selection—Arya Tabandehpoor, Omid Mehdizadeh, Kimia Askarian, Sina Boroumandi, Shahin Esfandiari, Rana Heidarzade, and Alborz Kazemi—do not view photography as a frozen or finalized document. Rather, they treat it as a raw material ripe for transformation and intervention. By slashing and distressing surfaces, or layering images with sculptural and textile textures, they render tangible that indeterminate, persistent residue of the past haunting our present.