Launched on St David’s Day, Persian Tour - an immersive journey through art, poetry, and culture across Wales - comes to SPAN Arts Centre in Narberth for a month this summer.
How do we truly experience a culture? Is it through sight, sound, scent, or movement? Artist Sahar Saki invites audiences across South and West Wales to explore Persian heritage in a fully immersive way – where poetry is not just read but walked through, music is felt as well as heard, and art is something to step inside.
“I am experimenting with culture—how it can be transformed into art and felt beyond words.”
Persian Tour is an evolving, multi-sensory exhibition transforming galleries into spaces that embody Iranian culture. Each venue becomes a “mini Iran” in which Persian poetry, calligraphy, music, dance, and even scent create an environment that invites audiences to engage with the culture beyond the visual.
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Beginning on St David’s Day (March 1) and running until autumn 2025, the tour will visit:
• Llantarnam Grange, Cwmbran (March 1 – May 17)
• Elysium Gallery, Swansea (April 4 – May 17)
• Span Arts Centre, Narberth (July 15 – August 15)
• Future Arts Collective Cymru (FACC), Cardiff (September – mid-October)
Each gallery will be transformed into a living artwork, with Saki painting Persian poetry directly onto the walls in large-scale calligraphy. The exhibition incorporates contemporary Iranian poetry, live dance performances, Persian music, and interactive workshops, allowing visitors to engage in Persian calligraphy and traditional pattern design. The scent of rosewater will also fill the space, ensuring that audiences experience Persian culture through all their senses.
At the heart of Persian Tour sits collaboration and cultural exchange. The project features the work of five contemporary Iranian poets and artists, alongside performances by two dancers and contributions from three artistic mentors. A multilingual catalogue with Persian poetry translated into Welsh and English will accompany the exhibition, bridging cultures and languages.
Saki’s work is rooted in reimagining spaces: creating environments where art transforms the familiar into something new, where audiences are transported elsewhere, and where different cultures can meet and connect. Her past projects, including Persian Murals (2021) and Off the Wall (2022), have captivated audiences with their innovative approach to Persian heritage and contemporary art. Persian Tour builds on this foundation, offering Welsh audiences a deeper, more immersive encounter with Iranian culture.
In the words of Persian poet Hafez: “At the dawn of creation, the radiance of Your beauty shone; Love was born, and it set the whole universe aflame.”
Through Persian Tour, Saki invites audiences to step into this radiance – to experience, feel, and connect with Persian culture in a way that is both personal and collective. The exhibition welcomes people of all backgrounds and ages, especially aiming to engage women of colour and Middle Eastern women in the arts.
#PersianTour is more than an exhibition: it is a celebration, a journey, and a meeting place for cultures. Audiences are warmly invited to step inside, engage their senses, and be part of this transformative experience.