Shaghayegh Cyrous (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

: شقایق سیروس; is an American artist and curator based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

. Her

interactive Across the many fields concerned with interactivity, including information science, computer science, human-computer interaction, communication, and industrial design, there is little agreement over the meaning of the term "interactivity", but mo ...

time-based investigations, participatory projects, and

video installation Video installation is a contemporary art form that combines video technology with installation art, making use of all aspects of the surrounding environment to affect the audience. Tracing its origins to the birth of video art in the 1970s, it has ...

s have been said to "create a poetic space for human connections."

Early life

Cyrous was born in

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

, Iran. She obtained her BA degree in Visual Art Studies from the

University of Science and Culture The University of Science and Culture (in Persian: ''Daneshgah Elm va Farhang'') is located in Tehran, Iran. University of Science and Culture is a research institution and university of engineering, science and art, offering both undergraduate ...

in Tehran. She lived in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

until the

Iranian Green Movement The Iranian Green Movement ( fa, جنبش سبز ایران) or Green Wave of Iran ( fa, موج سبز ایران), also referred to as the Persian Awakening or Persian Spring by the western media, refers to a political movement that arose after ...

, when political tensions made her decide to move to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

in 2011. She settled in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where she graduated with a Master of Fine Arts Social Practice from the California College of Arts (CCA) in 2017. Immediately upon graduation, Cyrous became a fellow at Escuela de Arte Útil, a project initiated by

Tania Bruguera Tania Bruguera (born 1968 in Havana, Cuba) is an artist and activist who focuses on installation and performance art. She lives and works between New York City and Havana, and has participated in numerous international exhibitions. Her work is in ...

Career

Together with the Iranian artist

Keyvan Shovir Keyvan Heydari-Shovir (Persian:; born September 1985), also known as CK1, is an Iranian-born contemporary artist, and street artist. His work combines Iranian traditional culture with contemporary pop culture, and he is a pioneer of Iranian graf ...

, she put up the

mural A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage. Word mural in art The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...

''In Memory Of'' in

Clarion Alley Clarion Alley is a small street in San Francisco between Mission and Valencia Streets and 17th and 18th Streets, notable for the murals painted by the Clarion Alley Mural Project. History Originally called "Cedar Lane," the alley's name was chan ...

in 2015. The mural depicts three famous Iranian women writers -

Simin Daneshvar Simin Dāneshvar ( fa, سیمین دانشور)‎ (28 April 1921 – 8 March 2012) was an Iranian academic, novelist, fiction writer and translator. She was largely regarded as the first major Iranian woman novelist. Her books dealt with the ...

Simin Behbahani Simin Behbahani, her surname also appears as Bihbahani (née Siminbar Khalili; fa, سیمین بهبهانی; 20 July 1927 – 19 August 2014) was a prominent Iranian contemporary poet, lyricist and activist. She is known for her poems in a ghaz ...

, and

Forough Farrokhzad Forugh Farrokhzad ( fa, فروغ فرخزاد; 28 December 1934 – 14 February 1967) was an influential Iranian poet and film director. She was a controversial modernist poet and an iconoclast,* feminist author.Forugh Farrokhzad died at the age ...

. Cyrous and Shovir had already created another work there, portraying writers and artists imprisoned in Iran, and Cyrous installed her Lost Rug Project in Clarion Alley. Cyrous co-curated ''Inside Out Iran'', an exhibition of Iranian

urban art Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to: * Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas * Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities Urban may also refer to: General * Urban (name), a list of people ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 2015. She was the executive producer of ''Mutiny of Colours'', a feature-length

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

about street art and

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

in Iran. She curated the video exhibition ''Eleven and a Half Hours'' in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

in 2017, displaying the works of the Iranian artist Shirin Abedinirad and the American artist Dionne Lee. Cyrous combined the two with the intention of "blurring lines between the two cultures... making Iran and Oakland feel like the same place." She chose that title because eleven and a half hours is the time difference between San Francisco and Tehran. Her own work ''A Window to Tehran'', with a video

diptych A diptych (; from the Greek δίπτυχον, ''di'' "two" + '' ptychē'' "fold") is any object with two flat plates which form a pair, often attached by hinge. For example, the standard notebook and school exercise book of the ancient world w ...

synchronizing the San Francisco sunrise with the Tehran sunset, was based on the same idea. In 2019, Cyrous created ''The sun will rise the next day'', a video installation with the names of political prisoners incarcerated in Iran since the beginning of the

in 2011 and until 2019. In August 2021, Cyrous founded ''Zamin Project'', which aims to connect and represent artists and educators from the SWANA (South West Asian and North African) Community in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. The project includes initiatives such as discussion panels, artists' interviews and Zamin Project Archive.

Notable works

*2014 - ''Klozar Weaving'', Iran and California *2015 - ''In Memory Of'' (collaboration with

, San Francisco, California *2015 - ''Inside Out Iran'' (exhibition curator), London, UK *2016 - ''A Window to Tehran'',

Root Division Root Division is an American arts nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2002, and located in the Mid-Market/South of Market neighborhood of San Francisco, California. They offer a gallery space, exhibition opportunities for emerging and ...

’s galleries, San Francisco, California *2017 - ''Eleven and a Half Hours'' (exhibition curator), Oakland, California *2018 - ''Over Here Not Yet'' (collaborative work with Renée Rhodes) Royal NoneSuch Gallery, Oakland, California *2018 - ''East of West'', Santa Fe, New Mexico *2019 - ''Rock E Malta'' (collaborative work with Kim Epifano) *2019 - ''The sun will rise the next day,'' (video installation at

Minnesota Street Project Minnesota Street Project (MSP), is a dual for-profit/foundation model art space founded in 2016 in the Dogpatch neighborhood of San Francisco, California; and features 13 art galleries, an event space, and a restaurant. History Minnesota Stree ...

), San Francisco, California *2019 - “Rock & Mortar” (video installation for the Epiphany Dance Theater's performance), San Francisco, California *2020 - ''Reenacting the Future'', SF Bay Area, California

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cyrous, Shaghayegh Living people 1987 births 21st-century American women artists American artists of Iranian descent American curators American installation artists American women curators Artists from San Francisco California College of the Arts alumni Iranian emigrants to the United States

Early life

Career

Notable works

See also

References

External links