Ahad Saadi was tired of his mother asking him when he was going to get married.
So in 2008, this Iranian artist decided to imagine his ideal partner and painted her using Azarnegari, his technique of burning fabric to create images. He had no one in mind. Just a face he invented entirely.
At the end of 2009, he exhibited that portrait in a gallery in Tabriz. Among the visitors was Parisa Karamnezhad, another artist, and she froze in front of the painting: the curly hair, the eyes, the features, everything looked like her. Ahad felt the same when he saw her, but Parisa was in a relationship at the time and each went their separate way.
A year and a half passed before Ahad found her on Facebook. Now single, she agreed to have dinner with him. That same night, barely knowing each other, Ahad proposed marriage. Parisa did not answer that night, but the next day she called him and said yes.