The Violence of Silence by Zoya Noori
Explore Mondoir Studio
Medium: Charcoal on Paper
Dimensions: 60 x 100 cm
Year: 2024
Price: $700.00 USD
Status: available
This original charcoal drawing explores the painful impact of verbal and emotional violence. A man’s words become a physical force, symbolized by a hand emerging from his mouth and gripping a woman’s throat. The artwork expresses how words can wound, silence, and deeply hurt another person, even without physical contact. Through dramatic contrasts, detailed shading, and powerful symbolism, the piece invites viewers to reflect on the hidden violence of language and the lasting effects of emotional abuse. An original artwork by Afghan artist Zoya Noori. Medium: Charcoal on paper. Dimensions: 60 × 100 cm. Unique original artwork.
Why collect this work?
A forearm emerging from the man’s open mouth converts speech into bodily force, making coercive language visible as an impossible act of restraint.
- The artist profile describes Noori as a Kabul-based Afghan artist working across painting, miniature art, and decorative forms. In this drawing, detailed figuration supports a blunt contemporary metaphor rather than a decorative scheme.
- In the photograph, the enlarged arm bridges the space between two tightly cropped figures, ending in a hand pressed around the woman’s jaw and neck. Her shut eyes, drawn brows, and bared teeth focus the scene on resistance and enforced silence.
- Documented as charcoal on paper, the medium enables a wide tonal range here, from dense dark areas to pale modelling. Against the largely unmarked ground, these contrasts give the anatomically impossible arm visual weight without supplying a setting.
- The work provides a concrete point of encounter for examining verbal and emotional violence. By collapsing speech and assault into one continuous form, it tests where language becomes an instrument of control.
About the Artist
Zoya Noori
Zoya Noori is an artist on Mondoir Studio. Artistic discipline: painting. Based in Kabul , AF.
Nationality: Afghan
My artistic practice explores the beauty of Afghan culture through painting, intricate details, traditional patterns, and expressive compositions.
