ARTIST STATEMENT
Through my life in Iran and now through my identity as a South West Asia North Africa (SWANA) woman living in the United States, my interdisciplinary work offers a commentary on socio-political issues. I create images, videos, sculptures, and installations that discuss issues such as censorship, surveillance, women’s rights in Iran, immigration, and the stigma around it. As a conceptually driven artist, my creative practice has taken me on a journey to work with different materials, media, and processes to better convey my message to my audience. Each material and media brings its own cultural and conceptual significance in relation to the piece, which allows me to talk about subject matters that have deeply affected my life and continue to affect many other people.
As I Lay Longing explores the topic of longing and immigration through the language of video and performance. In this performance, I am counting the days since I left my home country and loved ones using grains of rice. I recall my childhood memories of cleaning rice as a routine chore representing aspects of womanhood and Persian culture. This piece investigates the process of learning to deal with the constant state of waiting in uncertainty through daily acts and rituals.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Kiana Honarmand is an artist born and raised in Iran. Her work addresses issues related to her cultural identity, violation of women’s rights in Iran, censorship, surveillance, and the Western perception of the SWANA Identity. Derived from her interest in different materials and processes, Kiana’s interdisciplinary practice features the use of digital fabrication tools as well as traditional methods of craft. In 2012, Kiana moved to the United States to pursue and complete her Master of Fine Arts degree. She currently lives and works in the Bay Area.
Her work has been exhibited in numerous venues including Metal Museum, Memphis, TN; San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, CA; Lite-Haus Galerie, Berlin, Germany; Lorimoto Gallery, Ridgewood, NY; 709 Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA; Robert and Elaine Stein Galleries, Dayton, OH; Emerge Gallery, Greenville, NC; Verum Ultimum Art Gallery, Portland, OR; Laleh Gallery, Tehran, Iran; Root Division, San Francisco, CA; Fountain Gallery, Lafayette, IN; Spectrum Gallery, Centerbrook, CT; Rogers Gallery, Berea College, KY; Olin Gallery, Washington and Jefferson College, Washington, PA; HUB Robeson Galleries, Pennsylvania State University, PA; Arc Gallery, San Francisco, CA; Aggregate Space Gallery, Oakland, CA; Sidney Larson Gallery, Columbia College, Columbia, MO; MCLA Gallery 51, North Adams, MA; Crayola Gallery, Banana Factory Art Center, Bethlehem, PA; Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Novato, CA; The Drawing Room, San Francisco, CA; Oakland Asian Cultural Center, Oakland, CA, New Museum, Los Gatos, CA.
© Kiana Honarmand