CV
Ghazal Rahimi (Born 1994, Tehran, Iran)
Lives and works in Los Angeles
EDUCATION
2020 Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.)
University of California, Berkeley, CA
2018 Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) Painting Major with Graphic Design Minor
Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Group Exhibition, Monte Vista Projects, curated by Amanda Mears, Los Angeles, March 2023
Made in the USA, Tag Gallery, Los Angeles, July 2022
The 2nd Annual Future Art Awards Virtual Exhibition, Curated by Shiva Balaghi, Mozaik Philanthropy, July 2021
The 50th Annual MFA Graduate Exhibition, Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, curated by Stephanie Cannizzo, CA, May 2021
Reflections on Exile, curated by Jeanette Alanis, Root Division Gallery, San Francisco, CA, January 2019
Murphy and Cadogan Awards Exhibition, curated by Kevin B. Chen, SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA, September 2019
MFA Now, Root Division Gallery, San Francisco, CA, March 2019
Repeat Three Times, Worth-Ryder Gallery, Berkeley, CA, January 2019
No Shade in the Shadow of The Boss, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, May 2018
Buyer’s Remorse, Bolsky Gallery, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, December 2017
Solo painting Exhibition, Seyhoun Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, August 2016
HONORS AND AWARDS
The 2nd Annual Future Art Awards, Mozaik Philanthropy, Spring 2021
The Annual Murphy & Cadogan Contemporary Art Award, San Francisco, CA Fall 2019
Brenda S. Bagg Memorial Award for Watercolor, Women Painters West, Los Angeles, CA, Spring 2018
Women Painters West Award, Women Painters West, Los Angeles, CA, Spring 2016
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Laura Beaney, “Beyond Exile: Gender, Identity and Artistic Practices in Women Belonging to the Iranian Diaspora in the US”, SOAS University of London, Ph.D. research, December 2024
Canvas Rebel, Stories and Insights, Meet Ghazal Rahimi, November 2023
VoyageLA, Local Stories, Conversations with Ghazal Rahimi, October 4, 2021, (online: http://voyagela.com/interview/conversations-with-ghazal-rahimi/ )
Jennie E. Park, Re-Imagining Democracy, Re-Imagining Ourselves, “Mozaik E-Zine Edition No. 1”, Mozaik Philanthropy, September 2021, (online: https://mozaikphilanthropy.org/ezine/ )
Mozaik Philanthropy, Artist Spotlights, E-Newsletter, August 2021, (online: https://mailchi.mp/mozaikphilanthropy/mozaikxfrieze)
SHOUTOUT LA, Meet Ghazal Rahimi: Artist, March 1, 2021 (Interview, Print/Online:https://shoutoutla.com/meet-ghazal-rahimi-artist/ )
TEACHING
Instructor, Introduction to Visual Thinking, Department of Art Practice, University of California, Berkeley, CA, Fall 2019
Instructor, Beginning Drawing, Department of Art Practice, University of California, Berkeley, CA Summer 2019
Teaching Assistant, Life Drawing, Professor Christopher Warner, Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA, 2015-2017
BIO
Ghazal Rahimi is an Iranian artist currently based in Los Angeles. Born in Tehran, Iran, in 1994, Rahimi received her MFA from the University of California, Berkeley, and BFA from Otis College of Art and Design. Rahimi works in painting, drawing, sculpture, and installation.
Within her interdisciplinary practice, she explores themes of migration, roots, and memory. She utilizes Islamic geometric patterns and shatters their designs (both in clay work and painting) to represent the liberation of geopolitical borders and mind limitations. By doing so, I explore liminality and living in the in-betweens as an immigrant and an unsettled person constantly pulled between two countries, languages, and cultures, resisting the erasure of her past while attempting to move forward into the future.
Rahimi explores cross-cultural or intercultural issues and questions the notion of authenticity and being different in relation to oppressing and categorizing one group or oneself. Unearthing the untold and invisible stories, and forgotten legacies, She creates complex visuals and haptic relations to visualize what has been forgotten or marginalized.
