Somayeh Salehi (b. 1984) is an Iranian multimedia artist, craft researcher, and academic who creates conceptual and functional works by blending traditional Iranian arts with contemporary themes. Her primary focus lies in reviving forgotten techniques of Iranian women’s handicrafts through an ecological lens and sustainable design. By weaving together childhood memories, cultural heritage, and ecological concerns, she produces innovative artworks.
Her “Sculptures” series — a fusion of traditional “lif” (bath mitt) weaving and handmade soap sculptures — symbolizes her belief in art as a language for intergenerational dialogue and a bridge between endangered traditions and a sustainable future.
Her childhood memories with her grandmother in Iran’s traditional bathhouses and forgotten crafts like “lif” weaving and local soap-making form the foundation of projects that blur the line between functional art and contemporary sculpture. Her works, including the “Venus of Willendorf” series, have been exhibited at Iran’s Visual Arts Festival in the creative sculpture section.
In rural Persia, women have woven bath mitts (known as “lif”) for generations. My childhood memory of grandmother pressing leftover handmade soap into these mitts inspired me to reimagine this ritual. I transformed our local soap—crafted from indigenous oils and ash—into a malleable paste by grating, hydrating, and kneading it like dough. Pressed into handwoven loofah textures, each piece dries into organic sculpture: a fusion of heritage, ecological art, and sustainable design.
She employs diverse threads and traditional basket-weaving methods to reimagine the classic “lif” (bath mitt), using soap to solidify its form.
Website: https://somayehsalehi.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/somay.salehi