Being in Another Place

12 - 26 December 2025

Artists: Farshad Akbari, Morsal Halimi, Ali Rahimi, Mahdi Rasouli, Golshahr Photographers Group, Your Hands Project

Statement

Moving and existing somewhere other than a place of safety, transforms a person into “the Other”. “Being Other” may encompass a wide spectrum from nationality, ethnicity, gender and desire to social class and place of residence. In this way, “Being Other” in today’s world becomes a psychological, political, and social condition that in art can sometimes become a source of inspiration and difference, and at other times impose constraining restrictions. Several migrant/refugee artists who, in crossing political borders, have found themselves in a position of “Otherness,” and who have turned to subject matter, material, technique, and ultimately visual language as means of self-expression, are brought together in this exhibition.

About The Curators(s)

Akram Ahmadi Tavana
Born in 1982, Tehran

She holds a bachelor’s degree in painting from the University of Science and Culture and a master’s degree in painting from Alzahra University in Tehran. She is a member of the Iranian Painters Association and the Institute for the Development of Visual Arts of Iran. She has taught at the University of Science and Culture and Tehran Technical and Vocational College. In addition to her curatorial work, she is active in research and writing and has published several books and articles on art, including the translation of The Shahnameh of Ebrahim Sultan (Academy of Arts, 2018), the authorship of Agha Najaf Esfahani (Peykareh, 2024), and several essays on Persian miniature painting, illustrated Shahnamehs of the Timurid period, and contemporary Iranian art.

She has curated numerous exhibitions, including:

Instructions for… – Didar Art Gallery, 2025 (co-curated with Baharak Omidfard)
Shahnameh, the Perpetual Narrative (Act II) – Aaran Projects Gallery, 2021
Word by Word (Text-based Art in Contemporary Iranian Art) – Aaran Projects Gallery, 2021
Pendulum (Exhibition of Hadi Hezavehei) – Aaran Projects Gallery, 2019
Primeval, Art of Wood – Aaran Projects Gallery, 2017
Shahnameh, the Perpetual Narrative (Act I) – Aaran Gallery, 2015