Wikipedia

Minoosh Zomorodinia

Raheleh "Minoosh" Zomorodinia (Persian: مینوش زمردی نیا) is an Iranian-born American interdisciplinary visual artist, curator, and educator. She works in many mediums, including in photography, video, installation, and performance. Her work is informed by the tension between Iran and the United States,[1] as well as explorations of the self, of home, nature, and the environment.[2][3] She is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.[4][5]

Minoosh Zomorodinia
مینوش زمردی نیا
Born
Raheleh Zomorodinia

Tehran, Pahlavi Iran
Alma materIslamic Azad University,
San Francisco Art Institute
Occupation(s)Visual artist, curator, educator
Known forPhotography, video art, installation art, performance art
MovementEnvironmental art

Early life and education

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Raheleh Zomorodinia was born in Tehran, Iran.[6] She is a Muslim.[7][8]

Zomorodinia received a BFA degree (1998) in Photography, and a MFA degree (2008) in Graphic Design, both degrees are from Islamic Azad University in Tehran, Iran.[6] She had been a member of the Tehran-based Open Five Group (Persian: پنجه باز, romanized: Panje-Baz), an environmental artist collective at the Jehad Daneshgahi School.[8]

Zomorodinia emigrated from Iran to the United States in 2009.[8] She continued her studies and received an MFA degree (2015) in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute.[9][7]

Career

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Zomorodinia's work looks at the relationships between nature, land, and technology.[10] She often uses the act of walking as a medium in her artwork,[3][5] and in some cases she has used tracking apps in order to create abstract shapes such as in the work "Golden Route 5" (2021).[4][11] She is a member of the Zamin Project, a South/West Asia and North African (SWANA) artist collective.[12]

Artwork

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Zomorodinia was one of the twenty female Iranian artists included in the group exhibition, "Nietzsche Was A Man" (2015) curated by Alysse Stepanian and Neda Darzi, at the Pori Art Museum in Pori, Finland.[13][14]

Her work "Between Heaven and Earth" (2015), a video art installation with performance exploring the idea of "self" in a natural landscape, was shown at the Gallery Route One in Point Reyes Station, California.[7]

In 2017, she was part of the inaugural Transform Fest, a performance arts festival held at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; other artists included Larry Arrington, Sandra Lawson Ndu, Embodiment Project dance company, Fauxnique (drag name for Monique Jenkinson), Fogbeast dance company, RAWdance dance company, and Jesse Hewit.[15]

In her two-channel video, installed artwork "Sensation" (2016–2018), Zomorodinia is standing in nature with a safety blanket blowing in the strong winds.[16][17][18] The work was shown in the group exhibition, Once at Present: Contemporary Art of Bay Area Iranian Diaspora (2019) at the Minnesota Street Project, curated by Kevin B. Chen and Taraneh Hemami.[16][19]

Curatorial projects

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In January 2020, Hofreh, was curated by Zomorodinia at San Francisco’s Peephole Cinema (at 280 Orange Alley in the Mission District), with six silent films by contemporary Iranian video artists.[20]

In 2020, Emotional Numbness: The impact of war on the human psyche and ecosystems curated by Zomorodinia, was held at Platform 3, Tehran, Iran, with Atefeh Khas.[21]

In May to June 2022, Between Lands exhibition curated by Zomorodinia, was held at Southern Exposure art space in San Francisco, California.[22]

In October to December 2023, Transcending Physicality: The Essence of Place exhibition curated by Zomorodinia, was held at San Francisco Arts Commission in San Francisco, California.

Public collections

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Zomorodinia's work is part of the public collection at the Nevada Museum of Art.[citation needed]

Awards and honors

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Zomorodinia has been awarded many artist-in-residencies, most notably at the Ox-Bow Artists Residency (2018),[23] Djerassi Artists Residency (2016),[24] Recology Artists Residency (2021),[25] Local Language (2021),[26] Lucas Artist Fellow at Montalvo Arts Center (2023–2025),[27] Headlands Center for the Arts (2016–2019),[28] and the Santa Fe Art Institute (2017–2018).[29]

Zomorodinia is a 2023 YBCA 100 honoree, awarded by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.[30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Curiel, Jonathan (2019-03-06). "Forty Years After the Revolution, Iranian-American Artists Look Back". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  2. ^ Whiting, Sam (February 6, 2019). "The art of leaning against the wind inside an emergency blanket". Datebook, San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications, Inc. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  3. ^ a b Langner, Erin (2018-03-07). "A New Type of Flâneur Strolls in Search of Humanity". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  4. ^ a b Roberts, K. (October 17, 2021). "Exhibit uses art to reclaim stories and memories of place -". Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  5. ^ a b Baltus, Leah (2018-01-30). "Minoosh Zomorodinia Searches for Home in 'Colonial Walk'". City Arts Magazine. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  6. ^ a b "Edge Effect". San Francisco Art Institute. September 21, 2015. p. 107. Retrieved 2022-11-19 – via issuu.com.
  7. ^ a b c "Far From Home: Between Heaven and Earth - Video, Installation, and Performance by Minoosh Zomorodinia". Payvand.com. November 27, 2015. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  8. ^ a b c "Spotlight On Minoosh Zomorodinia". Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (ICCNC). April 19, 2018. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  9. ^ Hotchkiss, Sarah (May 18, 2015). "The Terrible Truth about MFA Shows". KQED. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  10. ^ "Minoosh Zomorodinia". ArtYard. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  11. ^ "Reclaiming stories, memories of place". Albuquerque Journal. 2021-10-17. pp. D2. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  12. ^ "Zamin Project". Variable West. 2021-07-28. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  13. ^ Richards, Martha (2015-03-10). "Finland's Pori Art Museum Exhibits Video Art by 20 Iranian Women". WomenArts. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  14. ^ "Nietzsche Was A Man. Pori Art Museum. Finland". Manipulated Image. 2015. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  15. ^ Hertz, Leba (2017-09-13). "Transform Fest answers 'Why Citizenship' in S..F. debut". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  16. ^ a b "Part and Parcel". San Francisco Arts Commission. January 2019. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  17. ^ Whiting, Sam (February 6, 2019). "The art of leaning against the wind inside an emergency blanket". Datebook, San Francisco Chronicle. ISSN 1932-8672. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  18. ^ Curiel, Jonathan (2019-03-06). "Forty Years After the Revolution, Iranian-American Artists Look Back". SF Weekly. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  19. ^ Once at Present: Contemporary Art of Bay Area Iranian Diaspora. San Francisco, CA: Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, San Francisco State University. 2022.
  20. ^ Hotchkiss, Sarah (January 14, 2020). "Through a San Francisco Peephole, a Glimpse of Video Art in Iran". KQED. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  21. ^ Artists, WEAD (2021-06-02), Emotional Numbness-online tour-Platform3 Gallery, Tehran, retrieved 2023-03-22
  22. ^ "Between Lands". Southern Exposure ([non-primary source needed]). 2022-05-06. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  23. ^ "Previous Residents". Ox-Bow. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  24. ^ "Djerassi Resident Artists Program | The Sacred Square". Djerassi Resident Artists Program. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  25. ^ "Community Calendar: October 2021". Potrero View. 2021-10-21. Retrieved 2022-11-19.
  26. ^ "AIR INDEX". LOCAL LANGUAGE. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
  27. ^ "Minoosh Zomorodinia • Montalvo Arts Center". Montalvo Arts Center. Retrieved 2023-07-06.
  28. ^ "Minoosh Zomorodinia". Headlands Center for the Arts. 14 June 2016. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  29. ^ "Minoosh Zomorodinia". Santa Fe Art Institute. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  30. ^ "YBCA 100". YBCA. Retrieved 2023-03-22.
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