Katayoun Bahrami

Artist Statement

My art practice and research lie at the intersection of reconciling distinctive places. As an Iranian woman who chose voluntary exile and immigration to the U.S. in my early thirties, my projects explore the relationship between women and identity as they are woven through religious and political histories. I further investigate the taboos that target women and their bodies.

 Informed by collective experience and childhood memories juxtaposed with my current life in the United States, my work has fluidly evolved. I collaborated with my mother virtually and my grandmother mystically to build a bridge between the three generations using crochet, a craft that has been passed down hand to hand. I work through a series of photographs, textiles, and mixed media to amplify women's roles; I create to give voice to the voiceless.

My research is a narrative of my personal experience of exile. I navigate the suspension between two states of being. Celebrating my unique culture and history while rejecting oppression and injustice that has led to exile. Considering it as a tool, narrating exile promotes a better social understanding of the conflict within the audiences and communicates globally. In my research, I reveal a sense of responsibility as a voice of awareness from the internal struggle for liberation.  

Through employing various materials that respond to the context of my research, I reflect on the metaphoric voice of materials in space and translate the gesture of patterns. I construct along with weaving and crocheting across the history of Iranian feminism. Farsi's handwriting encompasses my art as a critical material. I am inspired by Persian mystical literature and feminist poems to portray meaning in my work. I confront Iranian misogyny laws and disturb the sense of exile and border.

Artist Bio

Katayoun Bahrami is a multidisciplinary visual artist whose work reflects memories from her home country juxtaposed with her current reality. As an Iranian female artist, her research activities investigate the intersections of boundaries, identity, and women. By using memories from her past, Bahrami works through a series of photographs, videos, textile, and mixed media works. Farsi's handwriting also encompasses most of her art. Aspects of different locations, such as buildings, lakes, roads, or a garden, become the draft of her work to create a moment of reflection for the viewer.

Katayoun was born in 1981 in Tehran and received her BFA from the University of Science and Culture in Iran. She graduated from the Michigan State University in 2017 with a MA in Arts and Cultural Management-Museum Studies. Currently, she is pursuing her MFA in Studio Arts at the California College of the Arts.