Nazanin Noroozi
Riptide

Aug 20 – Oct 15, 2021
Spaces
2900 Detroit Av
Cleveland, Ohio

The Riptide is a visual short story based on super 8 movies that Nazanin Noroozi’s father took in post-revolution Iran. In this 4 minute film, handmade cinema is used as a medium to transform personal and family archives in order to re-create a narrative told by others addressing trauma and displacement. The mundane moments taken from kids’ school choirs, are juxtaposed with the images of glaciers melting, fictional asteroids attacking the earth, and other natural disasters to lift us beyond a singular event and represent a communal effect shared by millions in the anthropocene.

Nazanin Noroozi
Artist at Risk Resident at Westbeth

Nazanin Noroozi, (New York, NY) is a multimedia artist incorporating moving images, printmaking and alternative photography processes to reflect on notions of collective memory, displacement and fragility. Noroozi’s work has been widely exhibited in both Iran and the United States, including the Immigrant Artist Biennial, Noyes Museum of Art, NY Live Arts, Prizm Art Fair, and Columbia University. She is the recipient of awards and fellowships from New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship-grant, Artistic Freedom Initiative, Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts, Mass MoCA Residency, North Adams, MA and Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts Residency, NY. She is an editor at large of Kaarnamaa, a Journal of Art History and Criticism. Noroozi completed her MFA in painting and drawing from Pratt Institute. Her works have been featured in various publications and media including BBC News Persian, Elephant Magazine, Financial Times, and Brooklyn Rail.
The Artist Safe Haven Residency Program is designed to house and nurture international artists who are persecuted on the basis of political affiliations, ethnic, locational, religious, and/or gender-based persecution; forcibly displaced; artists who need a respite from dangerous situations; or artists from countries experiencing active, violent conflict.

“I am happy to share the news that I joined the prestigious community of NYFA/NYSCA fellows in the category of Video & Film.
NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship Program has supported artists at all stages of their professional careers for more than 30 years. Many of the past fellows have gone on to become world-renowned artists whose work has touched the lives of many. NYFA has awarded 92 New York-based artists in grants as part of its 2021 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellowship. Selected from an applicant pool of 3,572, the artists represent five disciplines that were selected for this year’s round of grants: fiction; folk or traditional Arts; interdisciplinary work; painting; video or film.”

Nazanin Noroozi website

The Artist at Risk initiative is led by a coalition of organizations working to safeguard free expression, and includes Artistic Freedom Initiative, Residency Unlimited, Westbeth Artist Housing, Fordham University, PEN America’s Artist at Risk Connection, Tasmizdat, and ArtistSafety.net.

Westbeth Artist Housing provides artists of all disciplines a residency for 6 months to two years, depending upon the requirements of the sponsoring program partners. Matthew Rutenberg of the Westbeth Board of Directors spearheaded Westbeth’s involvement in the coalition.

For more information, go to the NYC Artist Safe Haven website: Artistic Freedom Initiative.com