November 7, 2009-January 10, 2010
Cal State Fullerton Grand Central Art Center
125 N. Broadway
Santa Ana, CA 92701
General Phone: 714.567.7233

Curated by Elizabeth Little

Opening Reception:
November 7, 2009 7-10pm. Admission is Free.

Events:
November 5 & 6 Press Preview. To arrange a preview call 714-567-7233
November 6, 2009 5-6pm Panel Discussion with CSUF Professors
November 7, 2009 4pm Curator walk-through with Elizabeth Little
November 7, 2009 5-6pm Keynote Speaker: Peter J. Chelkowski
November 7, 2009 8pm Performance Art Piece by Alina Mnatsakanian
November 10, & December 8 2009 7pm Iran and Contemporary Cinema Film Series
December 5, 2009 5-6pm Panel Discussion with Pepperdine University
 

On November 7, 2009 the CSUF Grand Central Art Center presents Hidden Wounds, Paper Bullets: Iranian Contemporary Art featuring eight artists of Iranian descent. As a result of the Iranian Revolution of the 1970s, the artists participating in this exhibition explore western culture and Iranian traditions through their art. Unified by their cultural experiences, these artists offer insight into a community torn between democratic and theocratic values, and a Persian past and Islamic present. Showing in this exhibition are: Taraneh Hemami, an installation artist from San Francisco, California, Aydin Aghdashloo, fine artist and illustrator from Tehran, Iran, painter Yari Ostovany from Reno, Nevada, Hadieh Shafie, sculptor and painter from Baltimore, Maryland, Makan �Max� Emadi, a painter from Claremont, California, Shadi Ghadirian, a photographer from Tehran, Iran, Alina Mnatsakanian, an installation and performance artist from Switzerland, as well as archival historic images from the Hoover Institute at Stanford University. Coinciding with Hidden Wounds, Paper Bullets are several panel discussions involving Cal State Fullerton Faculty and lectures by Middle Eastern historians. Keynote Speaker Dr. Peter J. Chelkowski received his PhD in Persian Literature from Tehran University and is currently professor of Middle Eastern Studies at New York University. He has traveled the world studying Middle Eastern performance art and religious rituals. Guest curator and historian Elizabeth Little organized this exhibit. She has lived in Cairo, Egypt and studied Middle Eastern and Islamic history at the University of New Mexico.

Curator's Statement:
It is not about politics,
Even though a country was torn apart by it.

It is not about religion,
Even though a country's daily life is driven by it.

It is about the people, the people of Iran.

Hidden Wounds: Paper Bullets: Iranian Contemporary Art discusses the topic of the Islamic Iranian Revolution of 1979, yet this catalyst is not the focus. Instead, the project covers the stories of a group of contemporary Iranian artists whose artworks explore topics from gender issues within an Islamic society, propaganda of small school children, loss of identity, to the sheer physical violence of the Revolution. It is the people that we focus on in this exhibition; their stories, their motivations behind their diaspora which also serves as a constant reminder of what is truly lost...a home. Despite the anger, frustration or sadness felt having lived through the Revolution of 1979, these artists serve as the example of still a longing to return to, not just a home, but above all a sense, a feeling of being home before everything changed.

- Elizabeth Little, Curator

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