"Miniaturists say that being a contemporary miniaturist means being a magician, someone who can do incredible things, be rigorous, work five years on a painting, or be able to draw a line that is invisible. But I want to make visible that which is unsaid, and I take only a reasonable pain in creating my works. So, I am definitely not a miniaturist." -Farah Ossuli

Tahmine's Love for Rostam
From the collection "Destiny of Shahname Women"

Beautiful, daring Princess Tahmine suddenly found out that luck had knocked on her door and her unseen lover had been sleeping in her house. She went to Rostam's bed in the dead of night, and they both lost the gamble of love overnight; a passionate love, a brief encounter, followed by continued departure. Blossoming bud is a symbol of the conception of Sohrab. 

Tahmine is lying in Rostam's arms yearning to have a child from him, without even knowing that the one who gives her the child will take it back. 

This refers to a termination of matriarchy in which a son is searching for his father, because neither knows the other. The son gets killed by his father in a tough battle. 

The work is divided into four sections, indicating four elements in nature. The images on the top and bottom of the painting depict the love between Tahmine and Rostam, and Sohrab lying in Rostam's arms, portrays a mirror-like reflection. Tahmine is in a situation similar to that of Sohrab. In effect, she was devastated the night when she lovingly went to him, for she lost the child that intercourse gave them. 

Satan and angel are watching the scene from either side of the painting, as if they are audience of a play. 

Bloody sword of Satan indicates that evil is triumphant and angel has sadly surrendered. 

Struggle between Ahoora Mazda and Satan, good and evil, and light and darkness, still continues. Whether goodness wins or loses, an evolution is the result of this struggle. The tree of wisdom will grow in the same soil that embraces Sohrab as a seed. Circumstances of a hero are often recounted in every struggle, but this painting describes untold sentiments of a heroine behind the scenes of a war. 

Farah Ossouli, 2008