Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian is best known for her mirror-works, in which cut polygonal fragments of reverse-painted, reflective glass are arranged into kaleidoscopic compositions grounded on principles of Islamic geometry. Tied to a mystical understanding of primary shapes as sacred and connected to a divine natural order, Monir’s unit-based compositions of luminous glass reveal uniformity, repetition, and precedent as the basis for endless recombination. According to curator Suzanne Cotter, Monir’s mirror balls “point to her experimentation with the possibilities of mirror work as sculpture. Their spherical form, which in Islamic thought alludes to the archetypal shape of the circle and symbolizes the lightness and mobility of the spirit, was inspired by the sight of young children playing soccer on the streets of Tehran. Using similar soccer balls as a physical support, Monir exploited their portability and lightness in experiments in surface composition and the associated dematerializing effect of reflected color and light.”

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