Minoosh Zomorodinia
Now Open In the Media Space
About “Colonial Walk (21h:9′:3″)” video:
As an immigrant investigating the self in the natural environment, Zomorodinia borrows ritual to picture her dreams. Using walking as medium, and recording her path with an app, she creates a pilgrimage that belongs exclusively to her. Individual videos taken along the route are structured together into moving images within each frame by the use of sophisticated software. The final artwork contains movement within movement, mapping land that does not belong to her, thereby addressing the notion of power and ownership in relation to technology.
Minoosh Zomorodinia
“Colonial Walk (21h:9′:3″)” 2017 Video.
Still from the video
BIO
Minoosh Zomorodinia is an Iranian-born interdisciplinary artist and educator who employs video, photography, installations and performance to make visible for audiences the emotional and psychological reflections of her mind’s eye inspired by nature. Her work exposes and experiments with humanity’s relationship to the natural world. She earned her MFA in new genres from San Francisco Art Institute, and holds a Masters degree in Graphic Design and BA in Photography from Azad University in Tehran. She has been the recipient of several awards and residences such as MFA Fellowship from San Francisco Art Institute, Finalist Tosa Award, Djerassi Resident Artists Program and the Affiliate Program at Headlands Center for the Arts. Her work has been exhibited locally and internationally in Iran, USA, Finland, Romania, South Korea, Canada, England, and Mexico.
ARTIST STATEMENT
An underlying theme in my work is the investigation of the concept of “Self”’ particularly how the “self” relates to the environment. My works are deeply informed by my cultural background, religion, and politics. Borrowing from rituals and nature, sometimes infusing humor, I integrate contradictory concepts in pieces that visualize “Self” struggles. I use the mediums of photography and video to document intuitive moments played out within specific spaces. I make visible to audiences the view in my mind’s eye—reflections of my emotional, psychological, and subconscious experience
CV
Raheleh (Minoosh) Zomorodinia
Education
2015 MFA in New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2013 Multimedia Art Certificate, Berkeley City College, Berkeley, CA
2006 MA in Graphic design, Azad University, Tehran, Iran
1998 BA in Photography, Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Awards, Honors & Residencies
2017 Santa Fe Art Institute Residency, Santa Fe, NM (forthcoming)
Headlands Center for the Arts- The Affiliate Program, Sausalito, CA
I-Park International Artist- in-Residence Program, East Haddam, CT
Finalist Tosa Studio Award, San Francisco, CA
2016 Djerassi Resident Artists Program, Woodside, CA
ACRE ( Artists’ Cooperative Residency and Exhibitions) , Chicago, IL
Headlands Center for the Arts- The Affiliate Program, Sausalito, CA
Honorable Mention, International Digital AVA Awards
2015 Photography Award, The Earth Speaks , ARTSPACE Gallery, Stroudsburg Pennsylvania
The Headlands Graduate Fellowship Alternate Award, Sausalito, CA
First prize, The Anne Bremer Memorial Library’s Artists’ Book Contest, The Atholl McBean Gallery, San
Francisco, CA
2014 Nominee, Fifth Annual Contemporary Art/ Persbook , Collaboration with Open 5 Group, Tehran, Iran
Rising Leader Award, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2013 First Prize group project, P.A.H Film Festival, San Francisco, CA
MFA Fellowship in New Genres, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2012 Honorable Mention, 8th Annual CCC Student Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
Finalist, Eco Art Awards, Collaboration with Open 5 Groups, Online Contest
Solo Exhibitions
2015 Far From Home/Between Heaven and Earth , Gallery Route One, Point Reyes, CA
2014 Cold Medium: A Funeral for Nancy Holt , Incline Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2013 A Journey to a Mysterious Truth , Berkeley Public Library, Berkeley, CA
2010 Impressions , Open Shutter Gallery, Durango, CO
2008 A Way of Living , Atbin Gallery, Tehran, Iran
Collaborations
2017 100 Days Action, Side by Side , Offsite, Collaboration with Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, San Francisco , CA
2016 The Ocean After Nature , Yerba buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Jess Curtis/Gravity’s Pop Up Performance Project, Sid by Side , Offsite, Collaboration with Zulfikar Ali
Bhutto, San Francisco, CA
2015 Eco Art Matters 10th Anniversary, June Steingart Gallery, Oakland, CA
Pop Up Week, Swell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2014 BeLong , Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Earth and Time , Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran, Iran, Collaboration with Open 5 Group
Root , Fifth Annual Contemporary Art/ Persbook , Collaboration with Open 5 Group, Elaheh Gallery,
Tehran, Iran
2013 Border lines , Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2012 Without Border , Persbook , Iranian Artists’ Forum, collaboration with Open 5 Group, Tehran, Iran
2011 Iranian Environmental Artists’ Selected Works , Museum of Contemporary Art, Isfahan, Iran, Collaboration
with Open 5 Group
24th INSTANTS VIDEOs , collaboration with Open 5 Group, France
Videoholica Art Festival, collaboration with Open 5 Group, Bulgaria
Autama2011 Video Art Festival, collaboration with Open 5 Group, France
The 1st Recycle art festival, Collaboration with Open5 Group, Qazvin, Iran
2010 Fresh Dig Big Daddy Community Garden , Emeryville, CA
Persbook , First Annual Iranian Contemporary Art Contest, Collaboration with Open 5 Group, Sin Gallery,
Tehran, Iran
The Sky Is Mine , The 6th National Sculpture Biennial of Tehran, Collaboration with Open5 Group,
Niavaran Cultural and Historical Complex, Tehran, Iran
2009 New Art Festival FajrAfarinan , Saba Cultural and Artistic Institute, Collaboration with Open 5 Group,
Tehran, Iran
Selected Group Exhibitions
2017 Everyone is Hypnotized: Artists Dérive the Bay Area , ProArts, Oakland, CA
Nature, or:What Are We Looking For? , Gospel Flat Farm, Bolinas, CA
2016 Alumni Exhibition , Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Common Dilemmas , The Ostrich Feather Wedding Dress Project , Gallery Route One, Point Reyes, CA
Breathing Art, Geumgang Nature Art Biennale, Gongju National Museum, Geumgang, South Korea
Enchantment, Peter Strauss Ranch, Agoura Hills, CA
Eco-Avangard , Kunsthalle Museum, Budapest, Hungary
The Ocean After Nature, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Night Light , SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
The Culture of Peace Biennale International Art Project, Iran and Turkey
Kunsthaus Tacheles, SAFEhouse Arts, San Francisco, CA
Our Many Cultures , Expressions Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Critical Voices , Jerry Adams Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Smaller Footprints, MOAH; Cedar, Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA
Krowsworkerswork+ Dale Hoyt’s FARM World Premiere , Krowswork Gallery, Oakland, CA
Rite of Passage , Islamic Cultural Center Northern California gallery, Oakland, CA
2015 In die Weite , BIK Gallery 149, Bremerhaven, Germany
Living Spaces, Transylvania art center, Santa George, Romania
American Gun Show , Works, San Jose, CA
Perception , Embark Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Selected Video Artists’ Exhibition, LACDA, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles,CA
Edge Effects, MFA Show, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
4×40 Performances , Southern Exposure, CA
I have nothing to Say, But I’m Saying It , Diego Gallery, San Francisco, CA
You Had to Be There , Swell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Nietzsche Was A Man , Pori Art Museum, Finland
2014 Expulsion , Asterisk Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Freedom and Enlightenment , Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California, Oakland, CA
California Dreamin , Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
Hz Gate , The Lab, San Francisco, CA
The Site a Live , Diego Rivera Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Dreamworks , Swell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Nietzsche Was a Man , Malmö,Sweden
2013 Art As Activism , Women Eco Artists Dialog’s Board Member Show, Jerry Adams Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Nietzsche Was a Man , the Museo Ex-Teresa Arte Actual, Mexico City, Mexico
Earth and Time , Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran, Iran
The Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens Exhibit , John Natsoulas Gallery, Davis, CA
Muslim Women’s Arts & Voices , International Museum of Women, San Francisco, CA
2012 Works on Water , Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
Beyond Landscape , Marin Community Foundation, Novato, CA
Water Bodies , 4th State of Water, Los Angeles, CA
Nature Is Breathing , YATOO International Project 2012, Rumania
The 1st Video Artist Festival , Blue Room Gallery, Isfahan, Iran
Beyond Limited Spaces , Iranian Nature Artist Exhibition, Geumgang, South Korea
2011 The Altered Landscape , Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV
Iranian Environmental Artists’ Selected Works , Museum of Contemporary Art, Isfahan, Iran
2010 Environmental Art in Iran , Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
Persbook , First Annual Iranian Contemporary Art Contest, Sin Gallery, Tehran, Iran
A Prayer for Juarez and West Mesa , Albuquerque, NM
2009 Global Warnings Wake Up to Urgent , June Steingart Gallery at Laney College, Oakland, CA
The Youth Competition on Architecture, Settlement and Urban Identity in the Persian Gulf Region ,
University of Westminster, London, UK
Golden Roads Competition, Belgium
First Urban Women Festival , Tehran, Iran
2008 The First International Photography Biennale of the Islamic World , Saba Cultural and Artistic Institute,
Tehran, Iran
Human , Baran Gallery, Tehran, Iran
New Language, New Art , Laleh Gallery, Tehran, Iran
Mahshahr, 5th photo Competition, Tehran, Iran
The Annual Exhibition of Image of The year , Iran Artists Organization, Tehran, Iran
2007 My Green World, Tehran, Tarahan Azad Gallery, Iran
Canadian Association Photographic Art Members , Museum of Contemporary Art, Isfahan, Iran
The National- Religious Rituals for Joy & Happiness, 4th Nationwide Photo Competition, The City
Photography Museum, Tehran, Iran
7 Women 7 Vision , Cafe Mah-e-Mehr, Tehran, Iran
Annual Photography Exhibition , Caroun Photo Club (CPC), 7 Samar gallery, Tehran, Iran
2006 The Annual Exhibition of Image of The year , Iran Artists Organization, Tehran, Iran
Koodak & Manaviyat , Felestin Museum, Tehran, Iran
Teaching Experience
2015- present Adjunct Part-Time Faculty at Peralta Community College, Berkeley City College, Berkeley, CA
2015 Faculty Public Education Program at San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2014-2015 Teaching Assistant, San Francisco Art Institute, San Francisco, CA
2011-2013 Teaching Assistant, Berkeley City College, Berkeley, CA
2004-2006 Photography Instructor, Azad Islamic University, Tehran, Iran
Related Experience
2014-present Documentarian and Archivist, Southern Exposure Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2015- 2016 Photographer, PhotoAlliance Events, San Francisco, CA
2014-2015 Documentarian and Photographer, Walter and McBean Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2004-2009 Documentarian and Photographer, Paradise Art Center, Polur, Iran
2013-present Board of Director at Ziya Art Center, Berkeley, CA
2012-present Board Member of WEAD, Women Eco Artists Dialog, Oakland,CA
2005-present Member, ” Open 5 ” Group, Environmental Artists, Tehran, Iran
2015 Co-curator, Rite of Passage, ICCNC gallery, Oakland, CA
Co-curator, Rite of Passage, San Francisco City Hall gallery, San Francisco, CA
2013 Co-curator, Art As Activism , Women Environmental Art Directory’s Board Member Show,
Jerry Adams Gallery, Berkeley, CA
Workshops & Symposiums
2016 Bunker Projects , Performance Art Festival, Pittsburgh, PA
San Francisco International Arts Festival , Fort Mason Center for Arts & Cultures, San Francisco,
CA
2015 Water Wheel, Online Exhibition and Forum, curated by Atefeh Khas
2014 Making Connections , Bay-Delta Science Conference, Sacramento, CA
2015-2014 Art in Nature Festival , the Nature of Art, Redwood Regional Park, Oakland, CA
2012-2013 Muslim Women’s Arts & Voices Workshop, International Museum of Women, San Francisco, CA
2011-2012 Bay Area International Children’s Film Festival, Chabot Space & Science Center, Oakland, CA
2010 Art and Nature Workshop, Arboretum Arts Festival, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA
Bibliography
Print Media
Transition , Rabbit Rabbit, Annual Curated Journal of Artists and Innovators, Big Bad Bettie Press, 2016
California Host Environmental Art, Shargh Newspaper, Feb 24, 2016
Elke Prieb, Iranian Women Artists in Bremerhaven , Catalogue of In die Weite Exhibition at BIK Gallery 149,
Bremerhaven, Germany, 2015.
The Petaluma Post, A Reader’s Monthly, Arts , Vol XXX November 2015 No. 346.
Angelica Jardini, Perception , Catalogue of the Exhibition, Embark Gallery, San Francisco, June 12,2015.
Catalogue of the exhibition Nietzsche Was A Man , Pori Art Museum, Finland, 2015
Catalog of the Exhibition, Tehran’s Environmental Art Festival , Collaboration with Open5 Group, 2014
Yatoo-i Calendar 2013, Geumgang, Nature Art Biennale, Arko Center, South Korea
The Altered Landscape , Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV, 2011
Stew Mosberg, The Durango Telegraph, The Independent Weekly Line on Durango and Beyond, Jan. 28, 2010
Online Periodicals
Sarah Burke, A ‘Prayformance’ Confronts Islamophobia, Claims Common Ground , KQED, February 16.2017.
https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2017/02/16/a-prayformance-confronting-islamophobia-stakes-claim-for-common-ground/
Claudia Bauer, Arts Festival Accents the Avant-garde, SFGATE, May 11, 2016
http://m.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Arts-festival-accents-the-avant-garde-7462159.php?cmpid=fb-mobile
U.S., Iranian artists offer interpretations of nature at Oakland exhibition , Tehran Times, Thursday, March 17,
2016.Volume 12516
http://www.tehrantimes.com/news/300098/U-S-Iranian-artists-offer-interpretations-of-nature-at-Oakland
America Host Iranian Artists, ISNA online news, Feb 24, 2016 http://isna.ir/fa/print/94120402665/
`Samina Ali, Bay Area Art Exhibition Showcases Iranian Artists , Review, Senses Cultural, April 14, 2016.
http://sensescultural.org/event/bay-area-art-exhibition-showcases-iranian-artists/
The Object of Guns and the Subject of Violence: The American Gun (Art) Show by Leora Lutz, ArtSlant San
Francisco, January 26, 2016. http://www.artslant.com/sf/articles/show/44992
Sara Hotchkiss, The Terrible Truth about MFA Shows , KQED, May 18, 2015.
http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2015/05/18/highlights-from-the-2015-mfa-shows/
Edge Effect- The 2015 San Francisco Art Institute graduate MFA show, Examiner.com, May 28, 2015.
http://www.examiner.com/article/edge-effect-the-2015-san-francisco-art-institute-graduate-mfa-show
Interview by Hasan Sarbakhshian, Destruction of Nature, Destruction of the Human Being , Tableau Magazine 25
issue, April 30, 2015. https://www.tableaumag.com/7362
Giannina Mura, Video works of 19 Iranian women, Rootlessness from a general human perspective “Nietzsche Was
A Man” , Malmö Konsthall, 10/4 – 15/6 2014. http://manipulatedimage.com/nietzsche/press.html#Sweden
Ditte Vilstrup Holm, Iranian video Artists are Women , Review, May 10, 2014.
http://kunsten.nu/journal/iranske-videokunstnere-er-kvinder/
Atefeh Khas, Environmental Example of Performance in Iran , Tehran Municipality’s Beautification Organization,
January 27, 2014. http://zibasazi.ir/fa/2016-01-26-13-21-45/shahrvandi/item
Nietzsche Was a Man , Museo Ex-Teresa Arte Actual, July 21, 2013.
https://issuu.com/exteresaarteactual/docs/nietzschewasaman_25jun
Author
Ritual and The Feminine , Women Eco Artists Dialog, online Magazine Issue No.8, 2016 ’Feminism Now’.
http://weadartists.org/ritual-and-the-feminine
Iran: A Growing Eco Art Movement, Women Eco Artists Dialog, online Magazine Issue No.2, 2012.
http://weadartists.org/iran-a-growing-eco-art-movement-2
Lectures & Artist talk
2017 Reclaiming Earth Panel , San Francisco Public Library, San Francisco, CA
2016 Nomadic Lands, Ephemeral Bodies: Iranian Land Art , Department of Art & Art History, Stanford
University, Stanford, CA
Investigation of ‘Self’ , the School of Art and Art History at San Jose State University, San Jose, CA
2013 A Journey to a Mysterious Truth , Berkeley Public Library, Berkeley, CA
2011 Environmental Art in Iran , Nevada Museum of Art, Reno, NV
2010 Environmental Art in Iran , Laney College, EcoArt Matters class, Oakland, CA
Environmental Art in Iran , University of California-Davis, Davis, CA
Environmental Art in Iran , Richmond Art Center, Richmond, CA
Environmental Art in Iran , University of Arizona, Albuquerque, NM
Survey of Environmental art in Iran , Open Shutter Gallery, Durango, CO
Avenue 12 Gallery
1101 Lake Street at 12th Avenue
San Francisco CA 94118
415-750-9955