An Image Cannot Hold a Burning Homeland is a first-person essay by Parham Ghalamdar, published by My.Kali on 13 June 2026 as part of issue 78, Fields of Gestures. Written and illustrated by Ghalamdar, the essay returns to The Sight Is a Wound, a film made after the artist burned more than fifty of his own paintings in an open landscape in northern England.
The essay follows the work’s changing meaning: from a response to the livestreamed genocide in Gaza and a crisis of trust in painting, to the afterlife of the act through ash, damaged supports, dried paint palettes and images shown in galleries. It describes how a work can remain physically unchanged while its political charge shifts, and how the artist’s fear and attention later turned toward Iran. The text keeps those histories distinct while tracing how violence and its image systems travel.
A still from The Sight Is a Wound was later installed at Saatchi Gallery in Good Eye Projects (29 January–1 March 2026), printed on aluminium and supported by clay mixed with the ashes of the burned paintings.
PUBLICATION
My.Kali, Issue 78: Fields of Gestures
Published: 13 June 2026
Words and images: Parham Ghalamdar
Related film: The Sight Is a Wound (2025)
Read the full essay: https://wp.mykalimag.com/en/2026/06/13/an-image-cannot-hold-a-burning-homeland/
