So Far, So Close | Katayoun Amjadi, Shirin Ghoraishi, Ziba Rajabi

The So Far, So Close exhibition explores the complicated experience of displacement from the motherland through themes of space, distance, and memory by Iranian female artists who reside outside of Iran by choice or by force. 

Even though these artists have resided so far from their homeland for years, they feel so close to it, and distance has not diminished their love and care for it. Through the Persian language and Iranian culture, a part of their existence is defined by where they are from, regardless of where they take these temporal bodies. Meanwhile, they embrace and value their borderless life journey and cherish experiences that they have had as a result of a deliberate choice to live abroad and the opportunity to explore the unknown. Throughout years of living in the United States–despite how the politics of this country have treated them–they have grown to develop a sense of belonging to this land, creating a community with like-minded, colorful people and trying to make a temporary home out of it until it becomes permanent–if ever. 

About the Artists:

Katayoun Amjadi is an Iranian-born, Minneapolis-based artist, educator, and independent curator. In her work, she often considers the sociopolitical systems that shape our perceptions of Self and Other, such as language, religion, gender, politics, and nationalist ideologies. Amjadi blurs these boundaries and creates an off-balance, hybrid style that is slightly acerbic and a little bit tongue-in-cheek. Her art probes the relationship between past and present, tradition and modernity, and individual versus collective identity, and simultaneously seeks to spur discussion about our place in the temporal arc and the interwoven roots of our histories. Amjadi holds an MFA in ceramics and sculpture from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and currently teaches in the Art Department at Normandale Community College in Bloomington, Minnesota. Her work has been exhibited in several group and solo exhibitions nationally and internationally, including at the Minnesota Museum of American Art (St. Paul, MN), Rochester Art Center (Rochester, MN), Weisman Art Museum (Minneapolis, MN), South Dakota Museum of Art (Brookings, SD), Des Moines Art Center (Des Moines, IA), The Soap Factory (Minneapolis, MN), University of St. Thomas (St. Paul, MN), Public Functionary (Minneapolis, MN), Beijing Film Academy (Beijing, China), Staatliche Akademie der Bildenden Künste Karlsruhe (Karlsruhe, Germany), and Haftsamar Gallery (Tehran, Iran) among others. Selected fellowships include MCAD-Jerome Emerging Artist (2020/2021), Artist Initiative Grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board (2015/2019), and Creative Individual Grant (2024). Amjadi co-runs a studio arts building and maintains a small ceramics business in the Q.arma Building in the northeast Minneapolis art district. 

Shirin Ghoraishi, an Iranian-born artist based in Minneapolis, explores the intersections of space, psychology, power structures, technology, and science. Educated at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and holding a Master’s degree in Visual Art from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Shirin’s practice as both an artist and curator challenges and redefines the boundaries of perception and reality.

Ziba Rajabi (b.1988, Tehran, Iran) received her MFA from the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, and her BFA from the Sooreh University, Tehran, Iran. Her primary practice is focused on painting, drawing, and fabric-based installation. She is the recipient of the Jerome Foundation Mid-Career Artists Fellowship and the Artist 360 Grant, a program sponsored by the Mid-America Arts Alliance. Her work has been included in a number of exhibitions, nationally and internationally, such as Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art; AR, CICA Museum; South Korea; Masur Museum; LA; 21C Museum, AR; Araan Gallery, Iran; The II Platform, UK, among many others. She has been an artist in residence at Vermont Studio Center, Terrain Residency, and Anderson Ranch Arts Center.

*This exhibition is organized by Ziba Rajabi and sponsored by the Twin Cities Iranian Culture Collective.

 Statement in Persian Language:

خیلی دور، خیلی نزدیک نمایشگاه گروهی است از هنرمندان زن ایرانی که به انتخاب یا به اجبار خارج از ایران سکونت دارند. آثار هنری ارائه شده در این نمایشگاه حول محور تجربه زندگی خارج از مرزهای فرهنگی و سیاسی ایران می‌گردد که از دریچه مفاهیمی مانند دوری، جدا افتادگی، و خاطره این موضوع را بررسی می‌کنند. 

با وجود این‌که این هنرمندان سال‌هاست دور از وطن زیسته‌اند، اما این واقعیت خدشه‌ای بر علاقه و اهمیت‌شان به سرزمین مادری وارد نکرده‌است و تو گویی بخشی از وجودشان از بنیان با زبان و فرهنگ ایرانی شکل گرفته است. این‌که این کالبد فانی را کجا ببرند تاثیری بر هویت فرهنگی‌شان ندارد. با این حال، در برهه‌ای از زندگی این هنرمندان تصمیمی آگاهانه بر ترک مملکت و روبرویی با ناشناخته‌ها گرفتند و اکنون امکان زندگی‌ای بی‌مرز و تجربیات ارزنده حاصل از آن انتخاب را ارج می‌نهند.  در طی سالیان متمادی زندگی در ایالات متحده، علی‌رغم تجربیات ناخوشایند از سیاست‌های این کشور، این هنرمندان به مرور حس تعلقی به این سرزمین جدید پیدا کرده و از میان مردمان همفکر که از گوشه گوشه این کره آبی به گرد هم  آمده‌اند جامعه کوچکی برای خود دست و پا کرده‌اند و در تلاشند که خانه‌ای موقتی اینجا بسازند، شاید که دائمی شود−اگر بشود. 

Read more about this exhibition on Ziba Rajabi's website here.