Russell Square Commissioners’ Sculpture Prize exhibition,Esfandiar Ahmadi

The Russell Square Commissioners’ Sculpture 2025

My work engages the unfinished dialogue between ancient monuments and modern forms, asking how sculpture can transform space, perception, and community. Over recent years, I have developed a sculptural language — a calligraphy of voids and solids, curves and raw edges — to express freedom through interaction, where form becomes inscription and space itself becomes meaning.

This language reveals the interplay of opposing forces: presence and absence, memory and transformation. As a figurative painter turned sculptor, I now forge copper, brass, and steel into works that I describe as a Modern Parthenon — a monumental script of respect. Rooted in Persian and universal humanist traditions, my practice converses with the Parthenon’s democratic legacy, embodying tolerance, just rule, and dialogue between cultures across time.

Russell Square stands as both heritage and refuge: bordered by the British Museum, SOAS, and Sir John Soane’s Museum recalls the histories of Persians, Egyptians, and Greeks, while offering a living space of reflection and pause. Inspired by this duality, my sculpture, Breath of Time, embodies change and renewal.

By proposing this sculpture, I aim to forge connections between people, ideas, and nature. Using highly polished steel, the surface becomes both mirror and portal, reflecting sky, trees, and human presence. In this shared reflection, the work dissolves boundaries, creating a space where community, history, and environment meet in dialogue. — an open form where human presence and nature find rhythm together.

Copper and brass carry memory; steel speaks of resilience. Together, they create a contemporary architecture of dignity, connection, and respect.