I was born in Iran into a female body under patriarchy, and grew into mixed feelings about femalehood and estranged from my body. I went to gender-segregated schools. Puberty was a mess. I learned how to navigate an unequal education system and excelled at it.
I meditated through the late 2000s sketching the body with nude models in the underground studios of my hometown, Tehran. That technical practice of observational figurative-drawing formed the core of my practice for the next decade. Meanwhile I began exercising my voice as a citizen seeking social justice. I felt unheard. My art became my activism.
I meditated through the late 2000s sketching the body with nude models in the underground studios of my hometown, Tehran. That technical practice of observational figurative-drawing formed the core of my practice for the next decade. Meanwhile I began exercising my voice as a citizen seeking social justice. I felt unheard. My art became my activism.
Through my academic studies, I started questioning the old stereotypes and started seeing the bigger picture of interwoven systems of power and control all over “modern” society that persist the patriarchy.
I currently explore themes of personal and collective trauma, and how our bodies are affected by, and rebel against injustice. My main mediums are figurative drawing, oil painting and film photography, and I am most recently using drawing-based animation medium for use in the social media age to challenge violations of human rights. I have displayed my work in prestigious institutions such as the Art Gallery of Alberta and Academy of Fine Arts in Bologna, Italy.
My practice today is a reflection of a childhood of being put in a box, a youth not lived, spent arrested for speaking up, and exhausted by immigration. My art is my way to present my lived experience and initiate a dialogue.