Hadieh Afshani on Motherhood, Migration, and Studio Life in Jersey City

The 334th installment of Hyperallergic's 'A View From the Easel' series profiles New Jersey-based artist Hadieh Afshani, who works at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City. For two years, Afshani has balanced her studio practice with caring for her baby, shaping her work around the child's rhythms. Her art explores migration through bright, transparent inks, building layered surfaces through accumulation and chance. She values the natural light, sink, and scale of her studio, as well as the community of artists at Mana. Afshani also cultivates a network of artist-mothers for support and dialogue. She cites the Tenement Museum as a favorite local institution for its intimate immigrant narratives, which resonate with her themes of displacement. The cost of maintaining a studio in the New York area remains a challenge, especially with two young children.