Fatemeh Shekarforoush (born 1997, Shiraz, Iran) is an artist whose practice bridges Persian miniature painting and contemporary art. Now based in the United States, she works across painting and mixed media while preserving the delicacy and precision of traditional Persian techniques. Her current work explores migration, diaspora, and the experience of living between cultures. Through layered imagery and detailed surfaces, she reflects on memory, belonging, and cultural translation, negotiating the tension between inherited traditions and present realities. Drawing from nature, literature, and personal experience, Shekarforoush merges Persian visual history with global influences to create a contemporary language that reimagines Persian miniature as a living, evolving form.

In this talk, she’ll share her journey through graduate school, starting with my background in traditional Persian painting and how it shaped the way I work. She’lll talk about the different styles, techniques, and materials she experimented with, and how those explorations helped her find her current direction. She’ll end by presenting her most recent work and artist statement, focusing on themes of diaspora, in-betweenness, and what it means to keep reshaping your artistic identity.