September 24, 2025 • 28 mins
In this episode of Unapologetically Creative, host Andrew Ramsammy speaks with multidisciplinary artist and educator Taraneh Hemami, whose work bridges personal history and collective storytelling. From growing up during the Iranian revolution to building community through art in San Francisco, Taraneh shares how displacement, memory and resistance have shaped her creative journey. Through installations, public art and archival projects, she reclaims lost narratives and creates space for difficult conversations. This is a conversation about art as a force for connection, care and cultural preservation.
Timestamps
- 00:03 – 00:31 · Art and politics: Why creatives must respond to the moment
- 00:37 – 01:44 · Host introduction
- 02:07 – 05:38 · Taraneh’s artistic journey: From Iran’s revolution to community-centered art
- 05:46 – 07:50 · Childhood influences: Western art, music, and rediscovering Persian traditions
- 08:22 – 08:57 · Early years in the U.S.: Surviving as an immigrant and working retail
- 09:03 – 10:03 · Teaching as a path back to art and community
- 10:19 – 12:57 · Community storytelling: Hall of Reflections and post-9/11 projects
- 13:29 – 17:25 · Resistance and collective identity in art
- 17:46 – 19:31 · Is art political? The tension of labels in the art world
- 19:56 – 22:02 · Taraneh’s creative process: Proposals, experiments, and public art timelines
- 22:25 – 24:12 · Identity, doubt, and belonging: Iranian, American, artist
- 24:21 – 25:58 · The power of residency: Connection, reflection, and trust
- 26:11 – 27:02 · Returning from residency: Teaching and making space for hard conversations
- 27:07 – 27:27 · What “unapologetically creative” means to Taraneh Hemami
- 27:29 – 28:17 · Closing reflection: Art as connection, responsibility, and resilience
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Just because of where I am, I need to be aware of politics and
you can't help but being affected by that.
And hopefully you as an artist or, you know, creative person,
you're responding to what's important at this time.
And that's how I teach as well. Those are my assignments for my
students, you know, like keep upwith what's going on and respond
(00:26):
to what's what matters. And I'd say that's more
important than ever. Welcome to Unapologetically
Creative, a podcast from the Vermont College of Fine Arts,
where we celebrate bold artistry, transformative
creativity, and the audacious voices shaping the future of the
(00:51):
arts. I'm your host, Andrew Ram Sammy,
and in this series, we dive intohonest, inspiring conversations
with artists who are pushing boundaries and redefining what
it means to create work that resonates and endures.
Taranay Himami, multi disciplinary artist and educator
(01:12):
whose work explores the intersection of memory.
Identity. And collective resistance.
From Tehran to San Francisco, Taranay's artistic journey has
been shaped by personal upheaval, cultural displacement,
and a deep commitment to community driven storytelling.
In this episode, we dive into how she uses installations,
(01:33):
public art, and archives to preserve overlooked histories
and inspire critical conversations.
Tara Renee, welcome to Unapologetically Creative.
Well, thank you for having me. So you are a.
Very. Responsible artist, you.
Talk about a lot of different themes in your work, very
personal and and deep to you. Can you share with us your
(01:55):
story, your journey as an artistand what inspired you to explore
some of the themes of of what you do in terms of identity,
memory and. Culture in your work.
I'm sure. Well, I've been at it for a long
time. I, like many starting my
undergrad, focused on illustrations.
(02:17):
And you know what I knew I was good at, which was making
realistic paintings and didn't necessarily focus on anything
personal. It was really learning,
learning, learning and. Where was that?
This was at University of Oregon.
But the timing is always and thetiming was important for me
(02:40):
because it was actually at the time that the revolution started
in Iran and my whole life changed, my family's life
changed. And through that process, a
whole new set of challenges arose, which meant that after
school, after my BA, I basicallyneeded to survive a lot more
(03:03):
than focus on my art. And for many years, it was a
real struggle to go back into making work.
And my work changed completely after several years going back
to getting my master's degree. I really could focus on all of
(03:24):
those experiences kind of a decade later.
And IT started with being very personal, kind of understanding
what had happened and the effects of it on me personally.
I had also been away from familyand Iran for 13 years before I
went back to Iran during my MFA studies at California College of
(03:47):
the Arts. At the time, CCAC, California
College of Art and Craft was a change of name.
But that was a big moment for me.
Going back home, visiting my dad, who I hadn't, you know,
seen or spent that much time with that summer of 1990 and
(04:12):
coming back here again, away from all of the stories that I
was able to sort of hear a little bit more about when I was
back home. You know, my aunts are seeing my
family, all these new relatives,you know, the kids that I had
never seen, now 1213 years old, my cousins, all these.
(04:34):
And I came back kind of missing those connections.
And my art became my vehicle to sort of collect narratives and
stories. And one of the first thing
things that I did outside of college was to propose a project
to work with my community, more specifically Iranian women, and
(05:01):
bringing, using some of the inspiration of the rituals that
I had experienced in Iran, bringing my close family, I
mean, friends and community together to tell their stories.
We did that through building a quilt together and then created
(05:25):
a performance together as well as connected to the installation
that I was doing. And that was the beginning of
the like community involved projects that I have been
working on ever since. Yeah.
Had art been a part? Of your childhood, and I mean,
what was the art like that you had seen as a child living in in
Iran? Yes, I was always interested.
(05:49):
I was always drawing, painting, and most of it, what was being
encouraged was the Western art. And so it was all the classes
was took a painting class, we just copied stuff, but it was
all the masters and I also more than visual arts, I actually was
part of a music organization. So I played the piano and sang
(06:13):
in the choir and all of that wasvery Western focused as well.
I couldn't stand classical Persian music.
Like it was all really sad and all of that became a discovery
for me later. Meanwhile, my family, especially
the women were very artistic. A lot of them had like weaving
(06:34):
carpets in their background and they were constantly making
things with their hands. And you know, I just didn't
appreciate any of that. He just looked like, you know,
just completely biased to craft and this high art of Western
world and all of that was he hadto do.
I had to be undone. You know, it took a long time
(06:56):
for me to kind of self study allof that later because it also
wasn't really offered in school.You know, like my all of what I
studied was Western art history and you know, and so on.
And so you had to be a lot of that.
I had to kind of seek that knowledge myself and it was
through by creating work that was kind of inspired by the
(07:21):
motifs and and those were still paintings, but then it ended up
leading into all these other processes that and I'm still
very inspired by that. When I'm imagining new projects,
it's imagining more, more moments of inspiration.
And I go back to like architecture in Iran and the
moment of joy of seeing like thelight on mirrors in in a mosque.
(07:44):
And you know, so those have become things that I keep
referring back to. So you talked about this kind of
time span after getting your bachelor's and then returning to
it 10 years later. Right. 10 years is a long time.
Yeah, well, it was a challenge for sure.
I mean, it was a it's not easy to survive as a new immigrant.
(08:09):
So especially with an art degree, I think on top of it in
broken English and so on, and and.
Yeah. What did you do in that and then
in that period? A lot of retail, you know, it
was like a camera shop, boutiques and you know, mostly
I'd say I survived selling things.
(08:31):
All of the socializing in Iran, I think helps us in in those
kind of fields because we smile all the time and like friendlier
that most maybe. But it was my way of survival
and I put myself through school with that.
Like I've worked full time goingand getting my MFA and working
(08:56):
Christmas time. So you know.
But something was gnawing at you.
I'm assuming something felt incomplete.
Oh, yeah, I mean, you know, you want you want to be doing that
your work full time. And so after by MFA, even for a
year, I was, you know, I just couldn't do it anymore.
It just started looking for teaching jobs.
(09:20):
And I worked as an artist in residence in public schools in
San Francisco Bay Area, which was really eye opening for me
because I hadn't gone to school,you know, on neither elementary
nor high school here. So it's really my first time of
entering these spaces and kind of learning about the education
(09:43):
system. And it was really, I love that
experience. I loved working with kids, the
younger the better. Yeah.
And they're so creative and open.
And I approached it. I mean, I still approach my
teaching in the same way, reallymaking connections and and
building on on what they're excited about and so on.
(10:03):
How do you balance? Honoring your cultural history
and. Also while.
Reimagining kind of it for contemporary audiences.
And school. Kids and all of these, I mean
all. Of the kind of diversity of of
places and spaces that you've been in, how do you balance all
of that? It's, it's kind of different.
It's I can't help but I'm what I'm inspired by.
(10:25):
Hall of Reflections is one of the projects I talked about in
my visiting arts lecture here, and that was a project that was
inspired by family stories as kind of a tie back to a couple
decades ago, basically, but tying back to the stories that I
had lost. In 2001, I invited the Iranian
(10:49):
community to bring their images and stories for this project.
And this is a time that we, you know, 20 some years had passed
from the revolution. We were kind of building
communities and, and yet our stories were lost to each other,
you know, and, and so it was important to collect those
(11:09):
narratives and with that the community, like building the
community. And one of the components of
that was the conversations that we were able to have at a very
critical time right after 911, like November of 2001.
All of these gatherings were happening and it was so critical
to be in in conversation with like intergenerational, but also
(11:34):
across all these different experiences.
And that has continued to informmy work.
And so I've continued to bring community together.
More recently is more community of artists that I'm bringing
together through curation. I'm just starting a residency,
an artist residency in my own studio in San Francisco just to
(11:57):
give like extent the opportunities that I have,
whatever it is, I'd like to share that.
So after 911, I was also invitedto a lot of shows as the
singular voice to maybe in response to what was going on,
very well intended. You know, curators were inviting
(12:21):
me into these spaces and it was always the singular voices that
were representing was were supposed to represent all these
diverse experiences and people like Muslim people.
And that felt very wrong and uncomfortable for me.
And so they're bringing in the multiple voices to tell.
(12:43):
There's the different stories and from different perspectives
became very important. So that's why I work with
others, you know, in all these different capacities.
A lot of your work revolves around themes.
Of. Resistance and collective
(13:03):
identity. Why are those themes so central
to your your artistic practice? And I'm going to go a step
further. Why is resistance always
relegated to people and places from other kind of places that
seem almost exotic and exotic ina way that's just like, almost
pornographic, right? Oh goodness, yes, in fact.
(13:25):
And how do you combat that or oraddress that?
It's a very interesting question.
Thank you for asking that. Well, after 911, I, I felt a
responsibility to, to actually bring people into those
difficult conversations. And also again, talking about
not having the focus on like theindividual, but rather the
(13:49):
community. I worked with two other Iranian
women artists. We were supposed to have our,
you know, collective show of ourindividual projects.
But again, November of 2001. But instead it like this is not
the moment we really need to to have these difficult
conversations. And so we started working on a
(14:12):
project together where we posed a number of questions to our
what was our American audiences,you know, and it was a difficult
conversation, but an important one.
And we were amazed how welcoming.
Like, you know, we actually lined up the gallery walls with
these questions and invited people to take a talk and then
(14:33):
and write on the blackboards that we had provided.
And within, you know, the opening night, it was filled up,
had a lot to say. And so it kind of started with
with that sense of responsibility.
I'm also very tied to the student movement in prior to the
(14:53):
revolution. It's the community in Berkeley
that I have known since, you know, I moved there now over 40
years. It's a long time, but it's also
people that I admire. You know, it's, it's people have
learned a lot and that educationhas continued.
(15:15):
They have lecture series that has not stopped, you know, for
40 years and and so on. And there was an archive of
their publications and the publications that were collected
prior to the revolution that I had the privilege of organising
(15:36):
and, and being able to place it in various different libraries
across the, in this country. And that started my curiosity.
It's like, I don't know this history myself.
I wasn't part of it. It's, you know, goes from the
50s to about 1980s. And definitely I wasn't involved
(15:59):
in, in, in the movement itself, but I know a lot of people and I
always felt like I don't have the tools to talk about it.
And so that started after I did a number of installations.
I, I brought people together to respond to the material in a lot
of different ways, but then again to how to sort of
(16:21):
understand it more. I did a whole research project
into histories of resistance of different cultures very specific
to the Bay Area non Iranian history, as well as how these
different histories interject and intersect us at different
times and created a like devotedmany years to do this
(16:45):
publication. A cold resistance inspired and
actually I did an exhibition with the same title.
The publication was called bulletin.
All of these are titles from thedifferent publications of the
Iranian student movement actually.
And so you can say it's part of my blood, but but it's also been
(17:08):
a lot of work to actually understand the these different
histories and they have become my material and connections to
the the more current resistance movements that we're all should
be involved in, I guess. So far in our conversation, we
have not used a word that I wantto pose to you, and that is
(17:32):
political. Is art political?
Is the work that you're doing political?
And what happens when your work does get stamped with that word
as being political? How do you respond to that?
Yeah, it's a challenge right within the art world that's
something that people avoid. Galleries will definitely
commercial Diaries avoided. Even non profits are now
(17:55):
especially under scrutiny. We are even though are
encouraged that on some level tomake work that matters and
addresses social change and you know, all of that at the same
time there there is a hesitationand a lot of resistance to
(18:17):
exhibiting the that kind of work.
I suppose my work is affected bythe by politics.
I want to give you the answer ofeverything we do with political,
you know, of course. So I keep just because of where
I am, I need to be aware of politics and you can't help but
(18:40):
being affected by that. And hopefully you as an artist
or, you know, creative person, you're responding to what's
important at this time. And that's how I teach as well.
Those are my assignments for my students, you know, like keep up
with what's going on and respondto what's what matters.
(19:01):
And I'd say that's more important than ever.
Yes, you do lose something. And my challenge to create
public art wasn't a way of stepping away from that because,
of course, when your work goes into the public realm, it's sort
of like sheds all of what is very specifically political.
(19:23):
But I hope that I'm bringing some of the ideas into the work,
even even when it's on public display.
Yeah. You've described some of your.
Process a little bit already, a lot of it involving community,
but how? Do you approach?
Your own creative process. How do you What do you start?
What? What?
Goes from an initial idea to then actually finally.
(19:44):
Executing and creating that piece or.
Doing that installation and. Again, you.
You've. Mentioned a lot about.
Community and different mediums.And all of that.
But what is? What is your process?
For different projects, it's different and sometimes a lot of
a number of my projects have started in a proposal, you know,
(20:07):
writing a proposal. The title even comes at that
moment and Hall of Reflections was an example of that.
I believed in like the the vision came to me and I wanted
to make it happen. The title was part of my one
page proposal. You know, and, and the process,
I learned a lot and it changed alot, but a lot of it was already
(20:29):
there. And I kept going back to what
had inspired it, you know, what had inspired it.
But I also try to keep a studio practice and that's very
different. I'm very experimental in my
materials and I like to just really like not have a set idea.
It's not an illustration of ideas.
(20:49):
And a lot of my those experimentations also work
themselves into these other works in in different ways.
With public art projects, it also feels like you have 5
minutes to come over the project.
Like it's really is a month. If you had selected to propose
something, you'll have a month. You have to come up with a
(21:12):
project and you know, do all of the final drawings as well as
the funding like what what it's going to cost that who you're
going to be working. Like all of that happens in a
month. And then my experience has been
that you, you wait for several years and then the fabrication
has its own lifespan that can get very complicated.
(21:36):
And my projects have all kind ofstarted before the pandemic, for
instance. And some of them I'm just
finalizing. So this is like, you know, so
it's like, Oh my God, like how committed am I to that 5 minute
idea, a concept I had so long, but you have to also stay with
that and not lose those whateverthat was inspirational at the
(21:58):
time. So I guess it's all different at
different times, but. How do you deal with issues of
doubt? And I'm not sure how you
identify as an artist. If you identify as a woman, if
you identify as a, you know, Iranian artist, what are those
identities that you connect with?
And then how do you deal with that?
Again, that tension of am I an artist and who's calling me an
(22:22):
artist? And that's an.
Interesting question because I've, I do doubt myself, it
seems all the time. And the answer to, you know,
those questions of identity is always changing.
You know, my relationship with being Iranian, for instance, has
(22:45):
changed quite a bit, right, Because I've been away from the
country for so long. Do you feel more American?
I'm never going to feel completely American either
because I'm, the moment I'm, I open my mouth, people ask me,
where are you from? And you know.
And I'd say San Francisco. And I say San Francisco and
nobody accent, but where is youraccent from?
(23:07):
Like, you OK? Oh, you want my life story in
the first moment that I've met you?
OK. He's like, I don't know how
comfortable I am, but there's always feels like, you know, and
the longer I've stayed here, it's kind of sad because I feel
like now people who understand me are only people who have had
the exact relationship to these different identities.
(23:29):
And of course, that's very limiting, so, but it's
fascinating because it took a while for me to even apply for
my passport and becoming an American.
It wasn't really till like 2000 year 2000.
And I'm like, it looks like I'm staying here.
My whole family's here now. And I, I should get my, you
(23:53):
know, power to vote, you know, at least I should have that.
And that's when I did the Hall of Reflex, like a lot of
projects that came after that was about understanding by
locality, Bay Area, who are the people here who are, what is the
history? And that sort of has defined the
kind of work I've done. We're here at.
Residency, what is that? What is that?
(24:16):
Role of residency and why should.
People look for places and spaces like this.
Yeah, this was an interesting experience of being working with
your students at this residency.I was very happily surprised of
all of the different experiencesthat came together this past few
(24:37):
days that I've been here, and also all of the different
reflections of the world that they have brought with them hung
on the walls and kind of invitedus to respond to.
I learned a lot through these connections.
And what was very special about your students, it was that they
(24:59):
are coming in with so much. You know, they're a little bit
older, They have a life, a very rich life that they're leaving
to be here at this particular moment to make connections.
And they're making connections across the country.
And a lot of them seem like they're going to be lifelong
(25:21):
connections and support. And I think that is really
special. You know, it's, it is why we go
back to school and get our MFA programs because not only you
excel at the work that might have taken you years and years,
if if ever, but you're also building this really important
(25:48):
relationship, the trust that youbuild through the process, being
vulnerable together and learninghow to respond to the world.
What do you return with after leaving here?
And you're now that we're going to kind of go forward and go
back into the real world, leaving, leaving this this
cocoon and sanctuary that we've established for ourselves.
(26:09):
What are you? What are you returning with?
Well, I'm returning to, you know, teaching immediately and
also trying to createspace for our students to hold these
really conversations about our challenging life to come.
(26:29):
So I'm very much looking forwardto having the time myself to
devote to some of these questions in in my studio.
I've carved a bit of time in my studio this semesters.
I'm looking forward to taking the inspiration for from, you
know, these really engaged and activated minds that I've worked
(26:57):
with in the past few days and bringing some of that with me to
my studio also. What does unapologetically
creative mean to you? Yeah, being having a strong
voice, you know, being confidentand, well, questioning your
intentions, but then being confident when you bring it to
(27:18):
your audiences and not shying away from difficult
conversations that might come. Taranay Himemi reminds us that
creativity isn't just about expression, it's about
connection, responsibility. And reflection.
(27:38):
Her unwavering commitment to honoring the voices of her
community and confronting complex histories throughout art
is a powerful example of what itmeans to be unapologetically
creative. Her story leaves us with a
deeper understanding of how art can not just shape what we see,
but how we see it. Thanks for listening to
(28:02):
Unapologetically Creative. Be sure to follow the show.
And. Stay tuned for more insightful
conversations in the episodes ahead.
To learn more about the Vermont College of Fine Arts, visit
vcfa.edu.
Just because of where I am, I need to be aware of politics and
you can't help but being affected by that.
And hopefully you as an artist or, you know, creative person,
you're responding to what's important at this time.
And that's how I teach as well. Those are my assignments for my
students, you know, like keep upwith what's going on and respond
(00:26):
to what's what matters. And I'd say that's more
important than ever. Welcome to Unapologetically
Creative, a podcast from the Vermont College of Fine Arts,
where we celebrate bold artistry, transformative
creativity, and the audacious voices shaping the future of the
(00:51):
arts. I'm your host, Andrew Ram Sammy,
and in this series, we dive intohonest, inspiring conversations
with artists who are pushing boundaries and redefining what
it means to create work that resonates and endures.
Taranay Himami, multi disciplinary artist and educator
(01:12):
whose work explores the intersection of memory.
Identity. And collective resistance.
From Tehran to San Francisco, Taranay's artistic journey has
been shaped by personal upheaval, cultural displacement,
and a deep commitment to community driven storytelling.
In this episode, we dive into how she uses installations,
(01:33):
public art, and archives to preserve overlooked histories
and inspire critical conversations.
Tara Renee, welcome to Unapologetically Creative.
Well, thank you for having me. So you are a.
Very. Responsible artist, you.
Talk about a lot of different themes in your work, very
personal and and deep to you. Can you share with us your
(01:55):
story, your journey as an artistand what inspired you to explore
some of the themes of of what you do in terms of identity,
memory and. Culture in your work.
I'm sure. Well, I've been at it for a long
time. I, like many starting my
undergrad, focused on illustrations.
(02:17):
And you know what I knew I was good at, which was making
realistic paintings and didn't necessarily focus on anything
personal. It was really learning,
learning, learning and. Where was that?
This was at University of Oregon.
But the timing is always and thetiming was important for me
(02:40):
because it was actually at the time that the revolution started
in Iran and my whole life changed, my family's life
changed. And through that process, a
whole new set of challenges arose, which meant that after
school, after my BA, I basicallyneeded to survive a lot more
(03:03):
than focus on my art. And for many years, it was a
real struggle to go back into making work.
And my work changed completely after several years going back
to getting my master's degree. I really could focus on all of
(03:24):
those experiences kind of a decade later.
And IT started with being very personal, kind of understanding
what had happened and the effects of it on me personally.
I had also been away from familyand Iran for 13 years before I
went back to Iran during my MFA studies at California College of
(03:47):
the Arts. At the time, CCAC, California
College of Art and Craft was a change of name.
But that was a big moment for me.
Going back home, visiting my dad, who I hadn't, you know,
seen or spent that much time with that summer of 1990 and
(04:12):
coming back here again, away from all of the stories that I
was able to sort of hear a little bit more about when I was
back home. You know, my aunts are seeing my
family, all these new relatives,you know, the kids that I had
never seen, now 1213 years old, my cousins, all these.
(04:34):
And I came back kind of missing those connections.
And my art became my vehicle to sort of collect narratives and
stories. And one of the first thing
things that I did outside of college was to propose a project
to work with my community, more specifically Iranian women, and
(05:01):
bringing, using some of the inspiration of the rituals that
I had experienced in Iran, bringing my close family, I
mean, friends and community together to tell their stories.
We did that through building a quilt together and then created
(05:25):
a performance together as well as connected to the installation
that I was doing. And that was the beginning of
the like community involved projects that I have been
working on ever since. Yeah.
Had art been a part? Of your childhood, and I mean,
what was the art like that you had seen as a child living in in
Iran? Yes, I was always interested.
(05:49):
I was always drawing, painting, and most of it, what was being
encouraged was the Western art. And so it was all the classes
was took a painting class, we just copied stuff, but it was
all the masters and I also more than visual arts, I actually was
part of a music organization. So I played the piano and sang
(06:13):
in the choir and all of that wasvery Western focused as well.
I couldn't stand classical Persian music.
Like it was all really sad and all of that became a discovery
for me later. Meanwhile, my family, especially
the women were very artistic. A lot of them had like weaving
(06:34):
carpets in their background and they were constantly making
things with their hands. And you know, I just didn't
appreciate any of that. He just looked like, you know,
just completely biased to craft and this high art of Western
world and all of that was he hadto do.
I had to be undone. You know, it took a long time
(06:56):
for me to kind of self study allof that later because it also
wasn't really offered in school.You know, like my all of what I
studied was Western art history and you know, and so on.
And so you had to be a lot of that.
I had to kind of seek that knowledge myself and it was
through by creating work that was kind of inspired by the
(07:21):
motifs and and those were still paintings, but then it ended up
leading into all these other processes that and I'm still
very inspired by that. When I'm imagining new projects,
it's imagining more, more moments of inspiration.
And I go back to like architecture in Iran and the
moment of joy of seeing like thelight on mirrors in in a mosque.
(07:44):
And you know, so those have become things that I keep
referring back to. So you talked about this kind of
time span after getting your bachelor's and then returning to
it 10 years later. Right. 10 years is a long time.
Yeah, well, it was a challenge for sure.
I mean, it was a it's not easy to survive as a new immigrant.
(08:09):
So especially with an art degree, I think on top of it in
broken English and so on, and and.
Yeah. What did you do in that and then
in that period? A lot of retail, you know, it
was like a camera shop, boutiques and you know, mostly
I'd say I survived selling things.
(08:31):
All of the socializing in Iran, I think helps us in in those
kind of fields because we smile all the time and like friendlier
that most maybe. But it was my way of survival
and I put myself through school with that.
Like I've worked full time goingand getting my MFA and working
(08:56):
Christmas time. So you know.
But something was gnawing at you.
I'm assuming something felt incomplete.
Oh, yeah, I mean, you know, you want you want to be doing that
your work full time. And so after by MFA, even for a
year, I was, you know, I just couldn't do it anymore.
It just started looking for teaching jobs.
(09:20):
And I worked as an artist in residence in public schools in
San Francisco Bay Area, which was really eye opening for me
because I hadn't gone to school,you know, on neither elementary
nor high school here. So it's really my first time of
entering these spaces and kind of learning about the education
(09:43):
system. And it was really, I love that
experience. I loved working with kids, the
younger the better. Yeah.
And they're so creative and open.
And I approached it. I mean, I still approach my
teaching in the same way, reallymaking connections and and
building on on what they're excited about and so on.
(10:03):
How do you balance? Honoring your cultural history
and. Also while.
Reimagining kind of it for contemporary audiences.
And school. Kids and all of these, I mean
all. Of the kind of diversity of of
places and spaces that you've been in, how do you balance all
of that? It's, it's kind of different.
It's I can't help but I'm what I'm inspired by.
(10:25):
Hall of Reflections is one of the projects I talked about in
my visiting arts lecture here, and that was a project that was
inspired by family stories as kind of a tie back to a couple
decades ago, basically, but tying back to the stories that I
had lost. In 2001, I invited the Iranian
(10:49):
community to bring their images and stories for this project.
And this is a time that we, you know, 20 some years had passed
from the revolution. We were kind of building
communities and, and yet our stories were lost to each other,
you know, and, and so it was important to collect those
(11:09):
narratives and with that the community, like building the
community. And one of the components of
that was the conversations that we were able to have at a very
critical time right after 911, like November of 2001.
All of these gatherings were happening and it was so critical
to be in in conversation with like intergenerational, but also
(11:34):
across all these different experiences.
And that has continued to informmy work.
And so I've continued to bring community together.
More recently is more community of artists that I'm bringing
together through curation. I'm just starting a residency,
an artist residency in my own studio in San Francisco just to
(11:57):
give like extent the opportunities that I have,
whatever it is, I'd like to share that.
So after 911, I was also invitedto a lot of shows as the
singular voice to maybe in response to what was going on,
very well intended. You know, curators were inviting
(12:21):
me into these spaces and it was always the singular voices that
were representing was were supposed to represent all these
diverse experiences and people like Muslim people.
And that felt very wrong and uncomfortable for me.
And so they're bringing in the multiple voices to tell.
(12:43):
There's the different stories and from different perspectives
became very important. So that's why I work with
others, you know, in all these different capacities.
A lot of your work revolves around themes.
Of. Resistance and collective
(13:03):
identity. Why are those themes so central
to your your artistic practice? And I'm going to go a step
further. Why is resistance always
relegated to people and places from other kind of places that
seem almost exotic and exotic ina way that's just like, almost
pornographic, right? Oh goodness, yes, in fact.
(13:25):
And how do you combat that or oraddress that?
It's a very interesting question.
Thank you for asking that. Well, after 911, I, I felt a
responsibility to, to actually bring people into those
difficult conversations. And also again, talking about
not having the focus on like theindividual, but rather the
(13:49):
community. I worked with two other Iranian
women artists. We were supposed to have our,
you know, collective show of ourindividual projects.
But again, November of 2001. But instead it like this is not
the moment we really need to to have these difficult
conversations. And so we started working on a
(14:12):
project together where we posed a number of questions to our
what was our American audiences,you know, and it was a difficult
conversation, but an important one.
And we were amazed how welcoming.
Like, you know, we actually lined up the gallery walls with
these questions and invited people to take a talk and then
(14:33):
and write on the blackboards that we had provided.
And within, you know, the opening night, it was filled up,
had a lot to say. And so it kind of started with
with that sense of responsibility.
I'm also very tied to the student movement in prior to the
(14:53):
revolution. It's the community in Berkeley
that I have known since, you know, I moved there now over 40
years. It's a long time, but it's also
people that I admire. You know, it's, it's people have
learned a lot and that educationhas continued.
(15:15):
They have lecture series that has not stopped, you know, for
40 years and and so on. And there was an archive of
their publications and the publications that were collected
prior to the revolution that I had the privilege of organising
(15:36):
and, and being able to place it in various different libraries
across the, in this country. And that started my curiosity.
It's like, I don't know this history myself.
I wasn't part of it. It's, you know, goes from the
50s to about 1980s. And definitely I wasn't involved
(15:59):
in, in, in the movement itself, but I know a lot of people and I
always felt like I don't have the tools to talk about it.
And so that started after I did a number of installations.
I, I brought people together to respond to the material in a lot
of different ways, but then again to how to sort of
(16:21):
understand it more. I did a whole research project
into histories of resistance of different cultures very specific
to the Bay Area non Iranian history, as well as how these
different histories interject and intersect us at different
times and created a like devotedmany years to do this
(16:45):
publication. A cold resistance inspired and
actually I did an exhibition with the same title.
The publication was called bulletin.
All of these are titles from thedifferent publications of the
Iranian student movement actually.
And so you can say it's part of my blood, but but it's also been
(17:08):
a lot of work to actually understand the these different
histories and they have become my material and connections to
the the more current resistance movements that we're all should
be involved in, I guess. So far in our conversation, we
have not used a word that I wantto pose to you, and that is
(17:32):
political. Is art political?
Is the work that you're doing political?
And what happens when your work does get stamped with that word
as being political? How do you respond to that?
Yeah, it's a challenge right within the art world that's
something that people avoid. Galleries will definitely
commercial Diaries avoided. Even non profits are now
(17:55):
especially under scrutiny. We are even though are
encouraged that on some level tomake work that matters and
addresses social change and you know, all of that at the same
time there there is a hesitationand a lot of resistance to
(18:17):
exhibiting the that kind of work.
I suppose my work is affected bythe by politics.
I want to give you the answer ofeverything we do with political,
you know, of course. So I keep just because of where
I am, I need to be aware of politics and you can't help but
(18:40):
being affected by that. And hopefully you as an artist
or, you know, creative person, you're responding to what's
important at this time. And that's how I teach as well.
Those are my assignments for my students, you know, like keep up
with what's going on and respondto what's what matters.
(19:01):
And I'd say that's more important than ever.
Yes, you do lose something. And my challenge to create
public art wasn't a way of stepping away from that because,
of course, when your work goes into the public realm, it's sort
of like sheds all of what is very specifically political.
(19:23):
But I hope that I'm bringing some of the ideas into the work,
even even when it's on public display.
Yeah. You've described some of your.
Process a little bit already, a lot of it involving community,
but how? Do you approach?
Your own creative process. How do you What do you start?
What? What?
Goes from an initial idea to then actually finally.
(19:44):
Executing and creating that piece or.
Doing that installation and. Again, you.
You've. Mentioned a lot about.
Community and different mediums.And all of that.
But what is? What is your process?
For different projects, it's different and sometimes a lot of
a number of my projects have started in a proposal, you know,
(20:07):
writing a proposal. The title even comes at that
moment and Hall of Reflections was an example of that.
I believed in like the the vision came to me and I wanted
to make it happen. The title was part of my one
page proposal. You know, and, and the process,
I learned a lot and it changed alot, but a lot of it was already
(20:29):
there. And I kept going back to what
had inspired it, you know, what had inspired it.
But I also try to keep a studio practice and that's very
different. I'm very experimental in my
materials and I like to just really like not have a set idea.
It's not an illustration of ideas.
(20:49):
And a lot of my those experimentations also work
themselves into these other works in in different ways.
With public art projects, it also feels like you have 5
minutes to come over the project.
Like it's really is a month. If you had selected to propose
something, you'll have a month. You have to come up with a
(21:12):
project and you know, do all of the final drawings as well as
the funding like what what it's going to cost that who you're
going to be working. Like all of that happens in a
month. And then my experience has been
that you, you wait for several years and then the fabrication
has its own lifespan that can get very complicated.
(21:36):
And my projects have all kind ofstarted before the pandemic, for
instance. And some of them I'm just
finalizing. So this is like, you know, so
it's like, Oh my God, like how committed am I to that 5 minute
idea, a concept I had so long, but you have to also stay with
that and not lose those whateverthat was inspirational at the
(21:58):
time. So I guess it's all different at
different times, but. How do you deal with issues of
doubt? And I'm not sure how you
identify as an artist. If you identify as a woman, if
you identify as a, you know, Iranian artist, what are those
identities that you connect with?
And then how do you deal with that?
Again, that tension of am I an artist and who's calling me an
(22:22):
artist? And that's an.
Interesting question because I've, I do doubt myself, it
seems all the time. And the answer to, you know,
those questions of identity is always changing.
You know, my relationship with being Iranian, for instance, has
(22:45):
changed quite a bit, right, Because I've been away from the
country for so long. Do you feel more American?
I'm never going to feel completely American either
because I'm, the moment I'm, I open my mouth, people ask me,
where are you from? And you know.
And I'd say San Francisco. And I say San Francisco and
nobody accent, but where is youraccent from?
(23:07):
Like, you OK? Oh, you want my life story in
the first moment that I've met you?
OK. He's like, I don't know how
comfortable I am, but there's always feels like, you know, and
the longer I've stayed here, it's kind of sad because I feel
like now people who understand me are only people who have had
the exact relationship to these different identities.
(23:29):
And of course, that's very limiting, so, but it's
fascinating because it took a while for me to even apply for
my passport and becoming an American.
It wasn't really till like 2000 year 2000.
And I'm like, it looks like I'm staying here.
My whole family's here now. And I, I should get my, you
(23:53):
know, power to vote, you know, at least I should have that.
And that's when I did the Hall of Reflex, like a lot of
projects that came after that was about understanding by
locality, Bay Area, who are the people here who are, what is the
history? And that sort of has defined the
kind of work I've done. We're here at.
Residency, what is that? What is that?
(24:16):
Role of residency and why should.
People look for places and spaces like this.
Yeah, this was an interesting experience of being working with
your students at this residency.I was very happily surprised of
all of the different experiencesthat came together this past few
(24:37):
days that I've been here, and also all of the different
reflections of the world that they have brought with them hung
on the walls and kind of invitedus to respond to.
I learned a lot through these connections.
And what was very special about your students, it was that they
(24:59):
are coming in with so much. You know, they're a little bit
older, They have a life, a very rich life that they're leaving
to be here at this particular moment to make connections.
And they're making connections across the country.
And a lot of them seem like they're going to be lifelong
(25:21):
connections and support. And I think that is really
special. You know, it's, it is why we go
back to school and get our MFA programs because not only you
excel at the work that might have taken you years and years,
if if ever, but you're also building this really important
(25:48):
relationship, the trust that youbuild through the process, being
vulnerable together and learninghow to respond to the world.
What do you return with after leaving here?
And you're now that we're going to kind of go forward and go
back into the real world, leaving, leaving this this
cocoon and sanctuary that we've established for ourselves.
(26:09):
What are you? What are you returning with?
Well, I'm returning to, you know, teaching immediately and
also trying to createspace for our students to hold these
really conversations about our challenging life to come.
(26:29):
So I'm very much looking forwardto having the time myself to
devote to some of these questions in in my studio.
I've carved a bit of time in my studio this semesters.
I'm looking forward to taking the inspiration for from, you
know, these really engaged and activated minds that I've worked
(26:57):
with in the past few days and bringing some of that with me to
my studio also. What does unapologetically
creative mean to you? Yeah, being having a strong
voice, you know, being confidentand, well, questioning your
intentions, but then being confident when you bring it to
(27:18):
your audiences and not shying away from difficult
conversations that might come. Taranay Himemi reminds us that
creativity isn't just about expression, it's about
connection, responsibility. And reflection.
(27:38):
Her unwavering commitment to honoring the voices of her
community and confronting complex histories throughout art
is a powerful example of what itmeans to be unapologetically
creative. Her story leaves us with a
deeper understanding of how art can not just shape what we see,
but how we see it. Thanks for listening to
(28:02):
Unapologetically Creative. Be sure to follow the show.
And. Stay tuned for more insightful
conversations in the episodes ahead.
To learn more about the Vermont College of Fine Arts, visit
vcfa.edu.
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