Keyhole (2023) Layla Nami

Keyhole is a two-color silkscreen printed in a limited edition of 50. It depicts a woman peering through a keyhole to a dazzling world of which she can see a very limited view, but cannot access. A mischievous creature stands on the other side of the locked door, holding a key just out of her reach. Like many of Nami’s other works, Keyhole draws on themes of secrecy, attraction to the arcane, and doors/bridges between realities. Keyhole is based on the artist’s hand drawing and was printed live by Lane Sell and Shoestring Press at the 2023 Art on Paper fair in New York.

About the Artist

“Growing up with an Iranian Muslim father and an American Christian mother, I was constantly surrounded by Islamic and Christian imagery and art. Images of demons devouring sinners terrified me, but I couldn’t look away. Descriptions of the apocalypse from Revelations haunted me. Our apartment was covered in intricate Kashani carpets from my dad’s hometown of Kashan, and engraved tea sets and mirrors with metal carvings of intertwined animals and plants decorated our living room. As a child, my father told me Persian folktales before bed, and they were filled with magical animals and desperate people. Aspects from both cultures have become deeply intertwined in my work both as a child and as an adult, and I began to look more at images of illuminated manuscripts and medieval tapestries for inspiration. I’m fascinated by seemingly sinister figures and creatures, and the uncanny sense of fear or foreboding surrounding certain images from movies seen and nightmares I had when I was little. A lot of my inspiration comes from horror movies and graphic novels as well. The role of predator and prey, watcher and watched, play a large role in the narratives of the creatures in my drawings, which are myths of my own creation.”

Layla Nami’s website