“The Written Room,” a site-specific installation by Parastou Forouhar, will be created in a narrow corridor of the gallery. (photo courtesy of Craft Contemporary)

In collaboration with nonprofit Farhang Foundation, a compelling new group exhibition, “ART IRAN: Falling into Language,” opens at the art museum Craft Contemporary on Jan. 28, with an artist talk at noon, and runs through May 5.

“ART IRAN: Falling into Language” presents nine expatriate Iranian artists who engage diverse forms of the Persian alphabet, handwriting and fragments as an essential part of their artistic practice. This exhibition includes installation works, drawings, collages, site-specific art and an interactive installation. The methods used range from sewing; assemblages of letters, words and ceramics; and wall painting.

“The technique of handwriting on objects of different materials, from dishes to architectural tiles, is part of daily life in Iranian culture – and has been throughout history,” noted the exhibit’s curation team, Roshanak Ghezelbash and Hoda Rahbarnik.

“The text that appears in ‘ART IRAN: Falling into Language’ is not necessarily there to be read. It is there to be seen,” said Ghezelbash and Rahbarnik. “The audience’s inability to read these letters captures the in-between state the artists occupy in their daily reality: no longer belonging in their homeland nor in their new home. They chose handwriting over calligraphy – a well-known official expression of the alphabet with a long history within and outside the Iranian art scene; the artists chose handwriting as their voice – to gain a sense of belonging. What they bring with them into this new state of alienation might ultimately be described as a new kind of cosmopolitanism – it belongs to nowhere, so it is at home everywhere.”

Craft Contemporary is located at 5814 Wilshire Blvd. For information, visit craftcontemporary.org.