Guided by a commitment to historicization, locatedness of theory, and what Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak has theorized as the “irreducible singularity” of texts, I seek to foreground the unique contexts and aesthetic multivalency of practices rooted outside the gravitational pull of Western aesthetics.
Research Themes
Art and Translation
I explore how translation mediates the so-called global understanding of non-Western art, both as a practical necessity and a site of contestation. The manuscript I am currently completing, Unreadings: Contemporary Iranian Art and Art History’s Monolingualism, critiques how Western art history and criticism constrain Iranian art, shaping it to conform to Euro-American paradigms of meaning and value while obscuring its diversity.
Ethics and the Singular Other
Inspired by Spivak’s concepts of “idiomaticity” and “irreducible singularity,” I approach art as a means of respecting the unique, rooted experiences of non-hegemonic subjects. This commitment ensures that the artistic, socio-cultural, and historical specificities of Iranian and Middle Eastern art are neither homogenized nor misrepresented in the “global” discourses.
Historicization and Global Convergences
I ground contemporary artistic practices in their specific temporal and spatial contexts. At the same time, I acknowledge the ongoing material and epistemic impacts of colonial and global power dynamics. This dual focus allows me to analyze the convergence of historical legacies with contemporary realities.
Gender and Temporality in Art
I study how feminist temporalities inform contemporary Iranian art, challenging dominant historiographies. My analysis of Ghazaleh Hedayat’s works (”The Affective Feminism of Ghazaleh Hedayat,“ 2021) exemplifies this theme, demonstrating how her art reshapes narratives of time and gender within contemporary Iranian art and its reception both inside and outside of Iran.
The Politics of Criticism in Iran
Through projects like Translating Minds, I investigate how discourses of modernism and art criticism in Iran have historically intersected with global intellectual movements. This research highlights the tension between localized artistic practices and their interpretations within global art historical frameworks.