The Jade
Sacristy Gallery, Epiphany Center
2026
The Jade presents recent paintings by Laleh Motlagh, centering on a jade plant brought by her father from her hometown of Tabriz, Iran, in 2012. Over fourteen years of relocation across various Chicago homes and studios, Motlagh has nurtured this plant, developing an intimate, symbiotic bond with it. Since 2022, the jade has transitioned from a personal companion into one of the primary subjects of her visual practice.
Indigenous to South Africa but ubiquitous worldwide, the plant serves as a living metaphor for political displacement and global migration. Motlagh focuses intently on the plant's pot as a site of dual identity: it is both a protective shelter and a rigid constraint. Confined within this human-made structure, the jade adaptation mirrors the endurance of Iranian women navigating systemic restriction and control. Through daily and repetitive observation, The Jade maps the deep intimacy between human and botanical life, offering a quiet meditation on uprooting, survival, and the persistent will to grow within boundaries.
Special thanks to Vincent Uribe and Rudi Szilvasy