Bahman Mohassess (March 1931 – 28 July 2010) was a painter, sculptor, translator, and theatre director. His oeuvre comprises paintings, sculptures and collages. Known as “the irreverent” artist, Mohasses is said to have destroyed many of his own works, and those that become available at auction are now highly sought after. Mohassess is the most prominent artist who was openly gay in Homeland, which is still stigmatized. He was the subject of the Mitra Farahani film documentary, Fifi Howls from Happiness (2013).
Bahman Mohasses was born in 1931 in Rasht. The Mohasses house consisted of approximately 15 families who were land owners of Lahijan and were in the trade of tea and silk and lived in the Pordsar neighborhood of Lahijan.According to Hossein Mahjoobi, “All Mohasseses had strange personalities, but Bahman seemed to be the most complex and unique of them.” In his autobiographical documentary Fifi Howls from Happiness, Mohasses mentions that he is descended from the Mongols on his father’s side and the Qajars on his mother’s side.
