Once at Present: Contemporary Art of the Bay Area Iranian Diaspora (2019)
Taravat Talepasand
The Last Living Slut (side view), 2017
Egg tempera and oil on linen
The troubled parallels and hopeful differences between Iran, its women, and the Arab Spring are issues of freedom, dignity, and social justice. When religious conservatism is combined with sexism, classism, and ethnic and religious discrimination, as well as neoliberal economic policies, the battle for democratic rights and social justice becomes even more precarious. As a woman from Iran living in America, Talepasand explores how women navigate the geographic and physiological boundaries between East and West, revealing women’s bodies and perspectives becoming surfaces imprinted with the uncertainties of political and social upheavals. Paying close attention to the cultural taboos identified by distinctly different social groups, particularly those of gender, race and socioeconomic position, her work reflects the cross-pollination, or lack thereof, in our modern society.
Once at Present: Contemporary Art of the Bay Area Iranian Diaspora
March 29 - April 20, 2019
Minnesota Street Project
San Francisco, CA