Katayoun Bahrami

Multidisciplinary Artist and Curator

Katayoun Bahrami is an Iranian multidisciplinary artist and curator living and working in the Bay Area. Through her art, Bahrami delves into the intricate relationship between women’s bodies and boundaries, examining their dynamic interplay as subjects and dominators and how their limits catalyze change and transformation. Drawing on Iranian women’s history, Bahrami creates work that combines social practice, performance, and textile-based installations.

Bahrami’s artistic practice is diverse, utilizing a range of mediums, including mixed-media pieces, installations, textiles, videos, and photographs, to communicate her ideas. Her work has been exhibited extensively across the United States and internationally, with her pieces featured in galleries such as the LoosenArt Gallery in Rome, the Broad Art Center in Los Angeles, the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, and the Murphy and Cadogan Contemporary Art Awards Exhibition at SOMArts Gallery in San Francisco.

In addition to her exhibitions, Bahrami has produced performances and artist-led participatory projects for various venues, including the Clarion Alley Mural Project, the Legion of Honor Museum in San Francisco, and Berkeley Art Practice. She continues pushing contemporary art’s boundaries and exploring themes of femininity, identity, and culture.

Bahrami completed her BFA at the University of Science and Culture in Iran before earning her MA in Arts and Cultural Management—Museum Studies from Michigan State University in 2017. She continued her education at California College of the Arts, where she received her MFA in Studio Arts in 2022.

Dr. Persis Karim

Poet, Essayist and Distinguished Chair of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies, San Francisco State University

Persis Karim is a poet, essayist, and editor. She holds the Neda Nobari Endowed Chair and is the director of the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at San Francisco State University where she also teaches in the Department of Comparative & World Literature. She is the editor of three anthologies of Iranian Diaspora Literature.

Neda Nobari

Founder & Chief Catalyst Officer, MOZAIK Philanthropy

Neda Nobari is an Iranian-American justice advocate and founder of Mozaik Philanthropy.

Nobari earned her B.S. in Computer Science in 1984 from SFSU and her M.A. in Liberal Studies in 2015 from Dartmouth.  She was the Co-Founder and Vice-Chair of bebe stores from 1984 to 2006.

Nobari established her private foundation in 2007 and has served on over a dozen nonprofit boards and advisory boards catering to both Iranian and non-Iranian communities.

A benefactor of social issue film, Nobari has executive produced and supported over two dozen documentary films that have received international film festival recognitions and awards.

In 2016, Nobari established the Center for Iranian Diaspora Studies at her alma mater, San Francisco State University where she is the current Chair of the University Foundation Board.

Nobari was named the Alumna of the Year in 2020 and inducted into the Alumni Hall of Fame at SFSU.

In 2023, Nobari received the Ellis Island Medal of Honor.