Taraneh Hemami ( Persian: ترانه همامی) (born 1960, in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

) is an Iranian-born American

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, filmmaking, design, crafts and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and textile arts ...

ist, curator, and arts educator based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17t ...

. Her works explore the complex cultural politics of exile through personal and collective, multidisciplinary projects often through site specific installation art or participatory engagement projects.

Biography

Born in Tehran, she moved to the United States in 1978 to attend college, right before the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dyna ...

. In 1982, Hemami received her BFA degree in Painting and Drawing from

University of Oregon The University of Oregon (UO, U of O or Oregon) is a public research university in Eugene, Oregon. Founded in 1876, the institution is well known for its strong ties to the sports apparel and marketing firm Nike, Inc Nike, Inc. ( or ) is a ...

, Eugene, and in 1991 her MFA degree in Painting from

California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in Sa ...

(CCA), where she now teaches. Hemami's work is often handcrafted and has included replicating government posters, shattered glass stylized as traditional Muslim prayer rugs, a laser-cut wool carpet map of Tehran and beaded curtains. By manipulating common Iranian and Western imagery used to gain power and spread political influence, Hemami's work is a commentary on how this is used across nations throughout history. In her work "Home" (2006), she created a multimedia body of work by collecting photographs and stories from Iranian Americans to explore themes of displacement and representation within a home. In 2014, Hemami curated ''Theory of Survival: Fabrications'' at the Southern Exposure gallery. Hemami co-curated the 2019 multi-disciplinary group exhibition, ''Once at Present: Contemporary Art of Bay Area Iranian Diaspora'' at Minnesota Street Project in San Francisco.

Exhibitions

Hemami has exhibited at national and international venues as well as guest curated exhibitions, including the following: * 2002: ''Hall of Reflections, '' San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC), San Francisco, California * 2003: ''Hall of Reflections'', 6th International Sharjah Biennial,

Sharjah Art Museum The Sharjah Art Museum is an art museum in the city of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.Sharjah Art Museum

,
Sharjah Sharjah (; ar, ٱلشَّارقَة ', Gulf Arabic: ''aš-Šārja'') is the third-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai and Abu Dhabi, forming part of the Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area. Sharjah is the capital ...
,
United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE; ar, اَلْإِمَارَات الْعَرَبِيَة الْمُتَحِدَة ), or simply the Emirates ( ar, الِْإمَارَات ), is a country in Western Asia (Middle East, The Middle East). It is ...
* 2008: ''Evocations'', Rose Issa Projects,
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
* 2008: ''Theory of Survival for BAN 5'' at
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that celebrates local, nati ...
, San Francisco, California (guest curation) * 2008: ''Theory of Survival for BAN 5'' at
The Lab The Lab is a not-for-profit arts organization and performance space located in San Francisco's Redstone Building. Since 1984, The Lab has hosted performances and projects by artists including Nan Goldin, Barbara Kruger, David Wojnarowicz, Barry ...
, San Francisco, California (guest curation) * 2009: ''One Day: a Collective Narrative of Tehran'' at Intersection for the Arts (guest curation) * 2010: ''Time after Time'' at Southern Exposure, San Francisco, California (guest curation) * 2011: ''Zendegi: Twelve Contemporary Iranian Artists'', Beirut Exhibition Center, Lebanon * 2011: ''A Dream of Eternity: The Artist Long Time East'', Villa Empain, Brussels, Belgium * 2014: ''Fabrications, Theory of Survival project, '' Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, California * 2014: ''Bulletin, Theory of Survival Project, '' California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS), San Francisco, California * 2019: ''Once at Present: Contemporary Art of Bay Area Iranian Diaspora'', co-curator alongside Kevin B. Chen, Minnesota Street Project, San Francisco, California

Collections, residencies and awards
Hemami's works have been collected internationally by major public collections including; the
British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
, the
Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...
, as well as many private collections. Hemami received a
Creative Capital Creative Capital is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization based in New York City that supports artists across the United States through funding, counsel, gatherings, and career development services. Since its founding in 1999, Creative Capital has commi ...
Award (2012), Eureka fellowship award (2012), Creative Work Fund (2000), the
San Francisco Arts Commission The San Francisco Arts Commission (SFAC) is the City agency that champions the arts as essential to daily life by investing in a vibrant arts community, enlivening the urban environment and shaping innovative cultural policy in San Francisco, Cal ...
, California Council for the Humanities (Cal Humanities), San Francisco Foundation, and a Visions from the New California award (2004). She has been in residence at the California Institute for Integral Studies (CIIS) (2013 – 2014), Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Montalvo Arts Center, Kala Art Institute (2007), The Lab and the Center for Public Life at the
California College of the Arts California College of the Arts (CCA) is a private art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded in Berkeley, California in 1907 and moved to a historic estate in Oakland, California in 1922. In 1996 it opened a second campus in Sa ...
(CCA) in
Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay ...
, California.

See also
*
List of Iranian women artists This is a list of women artists who were born in Iran or whose artworks are closely associated with that country. A * Panteha Abareshi (born 1999), multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles, California * Golnar Adili (born 1976), artist bas ...

References

External links

Taraneh Hemami's website

"Studio visit with Taraneh Hemami"
In the Make website from December 2013
Posts by Taraneh Hemami
guest columnist, SFMOMA Open Space
Taraneh Hemami, Spark KQED Public Media
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemami, Taraneh Living people 1960 births 20th-century Iranian women artists 21st-century Iranian women artists Exiles of the Iranian Revolution in the United States Iranian emigrants to the United States Artists from San Francisco Artists from the San Francisco Bay Area California College of the Arts alumni Iranian installation artists American artists of Iranian descent