Shahin & Sepehr

While their names may seem indicative of something exotic and unfamiliar, the music of Shahin Shahida (acoustic and Spanish guitars) and Sepehr Haddad (guitars and keyboards) is smooth, easy-listening material designed to rest comfortably on Western ears.

Mohsen Namjoo

One of the most exciting musical incidents of our era, Mohsen Namjoo has truly advanced the pace of evolution of Iranian popular music. His brave and courageous foray into uncharted territory takes you boldly with him as if he has just grabbed your hand in his full speed reckless stride and hurries you along, with him into the darkness and the unknown. And you don’t mind at all!

Firoozeh Dumas

In 1972, when she was seven, Firoozeh Dumas and her family moved from Iran to Southern California, arriving with no firsthand knowledge of this country beyond her father’s glowing memories of his graduate school years here. More family soon followed, and the clan has been here ever since.

Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam

Shahrokh Moshkin Ghalam graduated from University of Paris VIII with a degree in History of Art and Theatre. He specializes in Middle Eastern folklore and mystical dance and has a deep interest in Indian, Indonesian and Flamenco dances.

Shahrokh joined the renowned Theatre du Soleil in 1991, where he played lead roles in Ariane Mnouchkine’s productions of “Tartuffe” “La ville parjure” and “Les Atrides”.

Sareh Khajehnouri

Taking inspiration from her homeland, Sareh Khajehnouri specializes in graphic design. Born in Tehran, Iran in 1979 Sareh moved to the United States when she was 9 years old. She calls Virginia home and has a passion for Art. Having obtained her degree in Graphic Design at George Mason University, she considers the great Ostad Abbas Katouzian in Iran her mentor.

Shadi Yousefian

Shadi Yousefian was born in Tehran, Iran and moved to the United States when she was sixteen. She received both her Bachelors (2003) and Masters (2006) of Fine Art in photography from San Francisco State University. In the beginning, Shadi worked in a kind of abstract expressionistic style, taking close-up shots of marks and scratches on surfaces such as walls, trash bins, and telephone booths in public places, capturing the expressions that other people had left on these surfaces.

Mina Javid

Mina Javid was born in Shiraz, Iran and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, and completed her graduate studies at UCLA’s School of Architecture and Urban Design. She draws inspiration from cultures and landscapes encountered through her travels around the world.  She has photographed lands and peoples in the United States, Europe, Brazil, and Iran. She currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

Golbon

Golbon currently resides in Chicago Illinois, where she is completing her B.A. at Columbia College Chicago in film and photography with a minor in theater. Her family roots stem from Shiraz and Tehran, where she was born in 1983. Missing Iran’s roadside juice stands, she has made the west coast her home for the past 19 years.

Armand S

Armand has been a photographer for more than twenty years.  He began his work and continued in black and white for 3 years and then transitioned to color. Armand’s entire portfolio consists of 35mm traditional SLR images.  For the last five years, Armand has been focusing his work on capturing the moments of the Caribbean Life and this exhibition features some of his finest photographs of what he calls “Spontaneous Street Portraiture” of Cuban faces

Farzad Kohan

I started playing keyboard when I was six years old. I’ll never forget that moment when I stopped playing others’ compositions and started making my own music. It felt different. I felt powerful because I made something out of nothing. Music taught me how to be in tune with myself, how to trust myself and my feelings when I am about to create something. All I had to do was to close my eyes and listen to my impulses.