Yashar Samimi Mofakham


Yashar Samimi Mofakham is an Iranian curator, visual artist, author, archivist, and art collector. He is recognized for promoting Iranian modern and contemporary art internationally.
Samimi Mofakham was born into an artistic family; his mother, Hengameh Mofid, is an Iranian dramatist, and his father, Kambiz Samimi Mofakham, was a theatre director, scenographer and puppeteer. He often works in collaboration with his partner, Tarlan Rafiee.

Career

Artistic career

Samimi Mofakham began his professional career as a visual artist in 2001 when he participated in a group exhibition in Tehran. Since then, his paintings and prints have been showcased in numerous exhibitions across Iran, Italy, the UK, the USA, France, Austria, Denmark, Armenia, and Dubai. His works are included in prestigious institutional collections, such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the British Museum, and the Ducal Palace of Mantua.
Alongside his work as a visual artist, he has served as a theater scenographer and received awards in this area. Additionally, he was twice selected as an award-winning artist by the British Art Medal Society.
He symbolically represents contemporary political issues in Iran—especially those he has personally witnessed and experienced—through his artworks.

Curating & Writing

Samimi Mofakham started his curatorial career with Selfdom: A Personal Project in 2010 in Tehran. This show presented self portrait works by contemporary Iranian artists reflecting on their identity and place in modern Iran.
In 2013, he co-curated the "Calling Project" with Iranian curator Tarlan Rafiee and British curator John Phillips. Over 30 renowned Iranian and British artists were included, and the exhibition traveled between Tehran and London.
He also co-curated the exhibition Karnameh; Visual Culture of Iranian Children at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, which became one of the museum's largest and most attended shows.
He has also served as the artistic advisor for two exhibitions at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art: the exhibition A Retrospective of Farideh Lashai, curated by Germano Celant, and the exhibition Lions of Iran by Parviz Tanavoli.
In 2020, in collaboration with Tarlan Rafiee, he curated an exhibition titled "Trost der Liebenden" at the Tiroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum in Austria. The exhibition showcased Qajar-period works of art collected by Albert Joseph Gasteiger Khan alongside contemporary works by Iranian artists, including Parviz Tanavoli, Jazeh Tabatabai, Reza Bangiz, Farah Ossouli, Narges Hashemi, Mazdak Ayyari, and Khosrow Sinai. A companion book with the same title, co-authored with Rafiee, was also published by the museum.
In 2008, Samimi Mofakham and Rafiee founded the Bread & Salt Projects, dedicated to archiving and documenting modern and contemporary Iranian art.
He has been also invited as a speaker at events hosted by prominent institutions—including the British Museum, the Iran Heritage Foundation, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.
He explores the cultural-historical and political issues of Iran in his writings and curatorial projects by focusing on the early modernism in Iran through to the late modernism. Historically, he traces the trajectory that today’s Iran has followed, examining it as a cultural and social process over the past century.

Curated exhibitions

Selfdom / a personal project, 2011, with Tarlan Rafiee, Tehran, IranTehran Calling: London, 2013, with Tarlan Rafiee, LPS, London, UKParviz Tanavoli’s Exercise Writing: 50 years of Iranian Pop Art, 2016, with Tarlan Rafiee, Shahrivar Gallery, Tehran, IranParviz Tanavoli’s Universal Icons: 50 years of Iranian Pop Art, 2016, with Tarlan Rafiee, Shahrivar Gallery, Tehran, IranRTL:LTR, an exchange exhibition between Iran and Austria, with Tarlan Rafiee, Peter Assmann, and CO:K; traveling exhibit to the Galerie Forum in Wels, Austria, 2016; the Artmark Galerie in Wien, Austria, 2016; the Lajevardi Foundation, in Tehran, Iran, 2016; and the Museum of [Contemporary Art, Isfahan], in Iran, 2016–2017Plants: Recent works by Parvaneh Etemadi, 2017, with Tarlan Rafiee, Dastan Gallery, Dastan Oustside, Tehran, Iran.

By Samimi Mofakham

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About Samimi Mofakham

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