Mehrdad Mirzaie: From Tehran to Phoenix, Documenting Iran's Violence Through Glass
Iranian artist Mehrdad Mirzaie, who hails from Tehran but is now based in Phoenix, Arizona, has been delving into the topics of state violence and the erasure of history in Iran through his ongoing project 'Garden,' which he started in 2014. Since the beginning of 2023, he has created around 1,300 glass panels that display black-and-white photographs of anonymous Iranians. Mirzaie's past experiences with oppression influenced his previous work, 'The Republic' (2016). After moving to the U.S. under five years ago, he earned an MFA in photography and is now working on an MA in art history at Arizona State University (ASU), where he also helps curate at Northlight Gallery. He launched the Tasvir Archive Project in 2022, with its first exhibition planned for 2024. His future shows include venues like The Gallery at Tempe Center for the Arts and Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery, plus a major museum exhibition set for 2027.
Key facts
- Mehrdad Mirzaie is an Iranian artist based in Phoenix, Arizona.
- His ongoing project 'Garden' started in 2014 and involves transferring images onto glass plates.
- He has created about 1,300 glass panels since 2023.
- Mirzaie was born in Tehran and grew up amid the architecture of repression.
- His earlier series 'The Republic' was exhibited in Iran in 2016 without censorship.
- He moved to the U.S. less than five years ago to attend graduate school.
- He earned an MFA in photography and is pursuing an MA in art history at Arizona State University.
- He is assistant curator and collection assistant at Northlight Gallery at ASU.
- In 2022, he founded the Tasvir Archive Project focusing on Iranian photographic practices.
- In 2024, he co-curated the inaugural Tasvir exhibition at Northlight Gallery featuring sixty artists.
- His work 'Empty Tomb' (2025) is a life-size cement tombstone with a poem in Farsi.
- Upcoming exhibitions include shows at Tempe Center for the Arts and Pima Community College, and a major museum exhibition in 2027.
Entities
Artists
- Mehrdad Mirzaie
Institutions
- Arizona State University
- Northlight Gallery
- Tasvir Archive Project
- The Gallery at Tempe Center for the Arts
- Louis Carlos Bernal Gallery
- Pima Community College
Locations
- Phoenix
- Arizona
- Tehran
- Iran
- Tempe
- Tucson
- United States