This exhibition explores the topic of longing and immigration through the lens of the collaboration between two Iranian women artists. Through the language of video and performance, the artists talk about their experience of immigration, separation, longing, and uncertainty.
This collaborative work investigates the process of learning to deal with the constant state of waiting in uncertainty through daily acts and rituals. It is about the state of not having full control over your life and not knowing what tomorrow will bring. The realization that regardless of all the things outside of your will and power, life still goes on and before you know it, days, months and years pass by.
Farima’s video is a narration of our contemporary world through the eyes of a foreigner. A foreigner who comes from a foreign land and goes back and forth in time looking for the meaning of hospitality.
Kiana’s video includes a performance in which she counts the days since she left her home country and loved ones by counting grains of rice. She recalls her memories of childhood and daily chore, in which cleaning rice was a routine element that became a ritual in her mind that represents aspects of womanhood in her culture.
Farima Fooladi was born in Tehran, Iran. She is living in the United States creating Artworks in her Studio at the Box13 ArtSpace in Houston, Texas. Farima completed her MFA in Painting and Drawing at the Penn State University, College of Art and Architecture where she taught Drawing and painting for three years before moving to Houston, TX. She is currently a full-time lecturer at Sam Houston State University. Her works include commentary on imagery, themes, symbols and stories from Iranian visual and literature. Her recent research topic has been collective trauma and its long effect on cultures.
Website: http://www.farimafooladi.com/ | IG: @farimafooladi
Kiana Honarmand is an artist born and raised in Iran. Her work addresses issues related to her cultural identity, violation of women’s rights in Iran, censorship, surveillance, and the Western perception of the Middle East. Derived from her interest in different materials and processes, Kiana’s interdisciplinary practice features the use of digital fabrication tools as well as traditional methods of craft. In 2012, Kiana moved to the United States to pursue and complete her Master of Fine Arts degree. She currently lives and works in California. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions throughout the United States and Internationally.
Website: https://www.kianahonarmand.com/ | IG: @kianahonarmand
Farima Fooladi
Video