Four Minutes, Four Questions: Artist Ziba Rajabi

“Seeing Through” by Ziba Rajabi is part of an Art Ventures exhibition of her work on show through March 20 at the Faulkner Performing Arts Center on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. Rajabi is represented by the Art Ventures gallery.
(Courtesy Photo/Ziba Rajabi)
“Seeing Through” by Ziba Rajabi is part of an Art Ventures exhibition of her work on show through March 20 at the Faulkner Performing Arts Center on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville. Rajabi is represented by the Art Ventures gallery. (Courtesy Photo/Ziba Rajabi)

As an Iranian female artist based in Arkansas, my work revolves around the desire to reconcile my relationship with two distinctive spaces: Tehran, my native land, and Arkansas, where I reside now," says Ziba Rajabi, who earned a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Arkansas.

Her current exhibit, "Caged Bird and The Blue Room," an Art Ventures show at the Faulkner Performing Arts Center on campus, "explores the artist's experience of physical and psychological spaces caused by displacement."

Rajabi answered these four questions for What's Up!

Q. What can you tell me about the themes you're exploring in "Caged Bird and the Blue Room"? What is the significance of the exhibition's title?

A. Being away from home and beloved ones for a few years made me revisit my memory constantly. After a while, I could feel my memory of the "real them" is fading away. Inspired by Iranian architecture and traditional Persian design, I abstractly re-create moments and components of an interior domestic space, based on my memory of home.

The pandemic made me think a lot about unfairly made barriers for people based on many arbitrary factors, such as our body, skin color, nationality and financial status. That made me think about the caged bird as a metaphor for the current living situation.

My works are installed in two halls in the Jim and Joyce Faulkner Performing Art Center. One of the halls contains only blue works; I call it the Blue Room. It represents the sky for the Caged Bird.

Q. Were any of the works created specifically for this show or were they works you felt fit the theme of the exhibition?

A. These works are part of a more extensive collection that has been created to explore the same idea. For this exhibition, I curated a selection that could appropriately interact with space, particularly with the architectural features of the Faulkner Performing Art Center, such as its curves, colored lights, ceiling height, etc.

Q. How would you describe your work, or your general style, to someone who cannot see it?

A. I would describe my work as a series of paintings on paper and unstretched canvases, and fiber installations. They interact with space, both in form and concept. These pieces are non-representational artworks that incorporate vivid and bright colors and dynamic compositions.

Q. How has being a resident of Northwest Arkansas or the Ozarks impacted your work or your creative vision?

A. I was born and grew up in Tehran, a megacity, with a population of 9 million at night and 12 million by day, which means at least 6 million daily travels happen to and from the city. This on its own causes a lot of pollution. Most days, people can't see the blue sky, and the light pollution of the megacity wouldn't allow for stargazing. For me, moving to Arkansas with abundant natural scenery was a huge transition. Being in Arkansas exposed me to a whole new set of visual elements that are important for a painter's eye: a new color palette, different light, and various shapes and forms. For instance, working in my studio in Mount Sequoyah Creative Spaces, I can feel how my color palette and density of my compositions change depending on the season and the view that I see through my studio window.

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FAQ

‘Caged Bird and The Blue Room’:

Works by Ziba Rajabi

WHEN — On view online and in person through March 20

WHERE — Art Ventures at the Faulkner Performing Arts Center in Fayetteville

COST — Free

INFO — 935-3027, artventures-nwa.org

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