Artist Talk: Haniko Zahra with Rachel Hakimian Emenaker — House of CoHit

Recap

Artist Talk: Haniko Zahra on Identity, Resistance, and Humor in Painting

Thursday, July 24, 2025, 4 PM
House of CoHit Gallery, Hollywood, Los Angeles

House of CoHit was honored to host an intimate artist talk with Haniko Zahra, whose practice navigates the tensions between personal history, cultural displacement, and humor as a mode of resistance. The conversation, held at our Los Angeles gallery, offered a rare glimpse into the artist’s evolving approach to figuration and narrative.

In the talk, Haniko Zahra reflected on her formative years in Iran, recalling an early drive toward hyperrealism and the pursuit of technical perfection. Over time, this pursuit gave way to a deeper investigation into identity and lived experience, where painting became both a personal diary and a mirror of collective struggles. “Freedom is never clean,” she noted during the discussion. “It’s messy, it’s painful—and that’s where meaning lives.”

The artist also spoke to the role of humor in her work, describing it as a survival strategy amid censorship and social constraint. Through vivid color and playful figures, she draws viewers into complex narratives that oscillate between beauty and discomfort, intimacy and distance.

Watch the full conversation below and explore how Haniko Zahra continues to expand the language of painting through tension, vulnerability, and wit.