Minoosh Zomorodinia

Minoosh Zomorodinia
مینوش زمردی نیا
Born
Raheleh Zomorodinia

Tehran, Pahlavi Iran
Alma materIslamic Azad University,
San Francisco Art Institute
OccupationsVisual artist, curator, educator
Known forPhotography, video art, installation art, performance art
MovementEnvironmental art

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]

Early life and education

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.[7][9]

Career

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] She is a member of the Zamin Project, a South/West Asia and North African (SWANA) artist collective.[11]

Artwork

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.[12][13]

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.[14]

In her two-channel video, installed artwork "Sensation" (2016–2018), Zomorodinia is standing in nature with a safety blanket blowing in the strong winds.[1][2][15] 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.[15][16]

Curatorial projects

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.[17]

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.[18]

In May to June 2022, Between Lands exhibition curated by Zomorodinia, was held at Southern Exposure art space in San Francisco, California.[19][20]

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.[21][22]

Public collections

Zomorodinia's work is part of the public collection at the Nevada Museum of Art.

Awards and honors

Zomorodinia has been awarded many artist-in-residencies, most notably at the Ox-Bow Artists Residency (2018),[23][24] Djerassi Artists Residency (2016),[25] Recology Artists Residency (2021),[26] Local Language (2021),[27] Lucas Artist Fellow at Montalvo Arts Center (2023–2025),[28] Headlands Center for the Arts (2016–2019),[29] and the Santa Fe Art Institute (2017–2018).[30]

Zomorodinia is a 2023 YBCA 100 honoree, awarded by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.[31]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Curiel, Jonathan (6 March 2019). "Forty Years After the Revolution, Iranian-American Artists Look Back". SF Weekly. Retrieved 1 August 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  2. ^ a b Whiting, Sam (5 February 2019). "The art of leaning against the wind inside an emergency blanket". Datebook, San Francisco Chronicle. Hearst Communications. Retrieved 1 August 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  3. ^ a b Langner, Erin (7 March 2018). "A New Type of Flâneur Strolls in Search of Humanity". Hyperallergic. Retrieved 1 August 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  4. ^ a b Roberts, Kathaleen (17 October 2021). "Exhibit uses art to reclaim stories and memories of place". Albuquerque Journal. Archived from the original on 10 December 2025. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  5. ^ a b Baltus, Leah (30 January 2018). "Minoosh Zomorodinia Searches for Home in 'Colonial Walk'". City Arts Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 July 2025. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  6. ^ a b "Edge Effect" (Exhibit catalog). San Francisco Art Institute. 21 September 2015. p. 107. ISBN 9780930495381. OCLC 919210118. Archived from the original on 7 November 2015. Retrieved 19 November 2022 – via Issuu.
  7. ^ a b c "Far From Home: Between Heaven and Earth - Video, Installation, and Performance by Minoosh Zomorodinia". Payvand.com. 27 November 2015. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  8. ^ a b c "Spotlight On Minoosh Zomorodinia". Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (ICCNC). 19 April 2018. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  9. ^ Hotchkiss, Sarah (18 May 2015). "The Terrible Truth about MFA Shows". KQED. Archived from the original on 23 March 2025. Retrieved 19 November 2025.
  10. ^ "Artists: Minoosh Zomorodinia". ArtYard. 2021. Archived from the original on 4 December 2023. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  11. ^ "Event: Zamin Project - August 15, 2021 - September 25, 2021". Variable West. 28 July 2021. Archived from the original on 20 January 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  12. ^ Richards, Martha (10 March 2015). "Finland's Pori Art Museum Exhibits Video Art by 20 Iranian Women". WomenArts. Archived from the original on 24 January 2025. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Nietzsche Was A Man. Pori Art Museum. Finland". Manipulated Image. 2015. Archived from the original on 8 April 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  14. ^ Hertz, Leba (13 September 2017). "Transform Fest answers 'Why Citizenship' in S..F. debut". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  15. ^ a b "Exhibitions: Part and Parcel". San Francisco Arts Commission. January 2019. Archived from the original on 27 March 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  16. ^ Once at Present: Contemporary Art of Bay Area Iranian Diaspora. San Francisco, CA: Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, San Francisco State University. 2022.
  17. ^ Hotchkiss, Sarah (14 January 2020). "Through a San Francisco Peephole, a Glimpse of Video Art in Iran". KQED. Archived from the original on 22 June 2025. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  18. ^ Emotional Numbness-online tour-Platform3 Gallery, Tehran (Video). WEAD Artists. 2 June 2021. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023 – via Vimeo.
  19. ^ "Compost Samples: from the Recology Artist in Residence Program". CSPA Quarterly (40): 109. Fall 2023. ISSN 2165-753X. JSTOR 27258240.
  20. ^ "Group Exhibitions: Between Lands". Southern Exposure. 6 May 2022. Archived from the original on 4 August 2024. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  21. ^ "Transcending Physicality: The Essence of Place". San Francisco Arts Commission. 22 September 2023. Archived from the original on 9 July 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  22. ^ "Exhibition: Transcending Physicality: The Essence of Place". San Francisco Arts Commission. 2023. Archived from the original on 11 July 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025.
  23. ^ "Our Residents - 2018 Resident Artists" (PDF). The Crow's Nest. No. 2. Ox-Bow School of Art and Artists Residency. 2021. p. 45. Archived (PDF) from the original on 11 December 2025. Retrieved 10 December 2025 – via Squarespace.
  24. ^ "Previous Residents". Ox-Bow. Retrieved 2022-08-01.
  25. ^ "Sculptures | The Sacred Square". Djerassi Artists Residency. 2016. Archived from the original on 20 April 2025. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  26. ^ "Community Calendar: October 2021". Potrero View. 21 October 2021. Archived from the original on 1 June 2024. Retrieved 19 November 2022.
  27. ^ "Artist in Residence - Minoosh Zomorodinia - Made Lands". Local Language Art. 2021. Archived from the original on 22 March 2023. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
  28. ^ "Artist: Minoosh Zomorodinia". Montalvo Arts Center. 2024. Archived from the original on 14 May 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2023.
  29. ^ "Artist: Minoosh Zomorodinia". Headlands Center for the Arts. 14 June 2016. Archived from the original on 10 December 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  30. ^ "Alumni: Minoosh Zomorodinia". Santa Fe Art Institute. Archived from the original on 17 May 2025. Retrieved 1 August 2022.
  31. ^ "2023 YBCA 100 Honorees". Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. 2023. Archived from the original on 1 October 2025. Retrieved 22 March 2023.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.