A Vital Conversation with Labkhand (Labbie)Olfatmanesh
Labkhand Olfatmanesh is a multidisciplinary artist examining topics of feminism, race, and isolation. Her works explore how these forces take a dual shape as an immigrant to the United States and in her home country of Iran.
She has been exhibited across the US and internationally, including; Photo London U.K.; Rencontres d’Arles, France; Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles; Projecting Possibilities, Culver City Arts Foundation; the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery; and the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Jamaica Center of Art & Learning, NY; CICA Museum, South Korea; 2020 Feminist Border Arts Film Festival, NMSU;4Culture, Seattle, WA; The Glass Box Gallery at the University of California; Torrance Art Museum; Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo Museum of art. In 2018 she was awarded the LensCulture Portrait Awards Jurors’ Pick and received first place at the Los Angeles Center of Photography’s second annual fine art photo competition; second place at CAFAM & Farhang Foundation (Focus Iran 3); Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grantee, NYC; artist in residence in Side street project based on Pasadena, teaching Artistat ProjectArt NYC; and 2021 Active Innovator Leadership program at Arts for LA.
She earned a B.A. in graphic design at Azad University in Tehran, Iran, and a Photography Certificate in 2006 at the London Academy of Radio, Film, and Television and is acertified coach from Coach Training EDU 2020 Portland, Oregon.
Her work has also been featured in the United Nations, the British Council, and Australian High Commission and in the UNESCO Palace, Lebanon. She was also a member of The European Federation of Journalists (EFJ). She is currently a board member at Level Ground organization and an artist in residence at 18th Street Art center in Los Angeles, CA.
I had the pleasure of asking Labbie about the most important aspect of curating, what exhibit has she done that has had the most impact on her as an artist, who is someone she would love to collaborate with on an exhibit, and so much more.
UZOMAH: How are the arts a liberating process for women to express themselves?
LABKHAND: As an immigrant Iranian woman, I am trying to learn and understand diverse communities to examine and open dialogue related to gender and social issues.
My projects will have a communal and social impact on sharing women’s perspectives on parenting, gender roles, and women’s rights. While prior iterations focused on my personal experience and individual artistry, this next phase will see me pushing my work toward social practice.
One of my ongoing projects, Baby Maybe, is an interactive project that explores the personal and complex stories of womxn and their relationship to parenting and motherhood.
U: Can you describe the inspiration behind the interactive project BabyMaybe?
L: My complex relationship with motherhood was born out of a constant struggle I endured regarding gender and gender roles since I was a teenager in Tehran. I grew up understanding my mother and our ancestors who faced pressure and expectation to choose motherhood without many options to question it. The 1979 Iranian Revolution and the eight years of the Iran-Iraq War left larger social impacts and anxieties through political, cultural, and familial turmoil. My artistic practice has grown from these concerns and ideas of identity, gender representation, art-as-healing, and intersectional feminism.
InsideOut-OutsideIn / 2022
The exhibition Collective Acts of Peace / 18th Street Art Center Wall Decals (32”x45”) – Tree branch
I draw to root vegetables because the meat of the crop is the root of the plant, growing downwards and absorbing.
Moisture and nutrients from the soil. Leaving Iran to immigrate to Europe and then the United States, I found myself struggling to connect emotionally with my new surroundings. I was rooted up, rootless, and all other jokes one might be able to make on the subject. I yearned to center myself, but I felt like an outsider floating around with memories that contrasted with my immediate surroundings.
The root vegetables symbolize a promise to grow my roots, re-root the self, and grow new as I keep searching for home.
U: As a curator, what is the most important aspect of bringing together artists for an exhibit?
L: I like the idea of creating a space to explore other artists' work and taking some time off from my own practice because it can sometimes really tie down to your own processes, and I find that’s not healthy for me.
One revolution, 2021, 12x18” Archival Inkjet Print
Brief synopsis: (max length 1000 characters) From the series “Woven.” In collaboration with Gazelle Samizay and comprises of videos and 2- and 3-dimensional mixed media collages.
U: How do you use your art to create conversation about being an Iranian immigrant in the USA and also being female and discussing topics of feminism?
L: This is a very tricky question since I moved out of Iran. One of the challenges with the art world is the art establishment wants you to produce work about Iran and your background, similar to the way the media tries to portray us! It’s very tiring and challenging to deal with, and don’t have the support to explore other topics, and I am not allowed to talk about my new environments.
Also, topics of feminism are taboo in most cultures, so it’s hard to connect and talk about it not only with people from my cultural background but also with American people.
There's so much negativity and bad interpretations that it’s almost like you want to leave them alone unless they are curious and want to know about it. But, I have to say I have been surprised by some friends and family who are very open and supportive of this topic!
Artistically, I am growing my creative practice to highlight and reflect diverse voices in a personal and engaging way: sharing community perspectives on issues such as women's rights, race, borders, and immigration. I’m expanding my project from photography and video into public exhibits, video projections on specific sites, and other social practice projects. In this recent year, I have further expanded my work to venues and sites which are outside of the traditional gallery venues.
U: What got you into making documentaries? How does using an experimental style of filmmaking help you explore different topics?
L: When I lived in Cyprus, I worked for a magazine and covered a lot of interviews and news; therefore, documentaries and learning about people became second nature for me. I love to get inspired by people’s stories. I found it fascinating and became deeply involved with people's stories, as usually there is truth. You find yourself attracted and interested in particular stories or vice versa!
“8 by 8” is sponsored by UCSB’s Multicultural Center, Professional Women’s Association, and Department of Art.
My work is a video and installation as part of my multidisciplinary series in public sites, Baby-Maybe, which playfully but seriously investigates my own life decision about whether or not to have a child. Starting in 2018, Baby-Maybe is informed by my experiences from youth to adulthood: "playing motherhood", the trauma of the Iran-Iraq War, which separated my family, being less regarded as a first-born girl, and as a woman artist living outside my birth country defying cultural and familial obligations.
U: How does being a curator help you as an artist and vice versa?
L: Again, for me, this is back to getting inspired and learning about other artists and their practice and techniques, but it’s great to have access to different spaces and communities. Sadly as an artist, there are some misconceptions about asking to have some shows or get certain help and support from the organization. It feels like you have to get stuck with an “arranged marriage” dynamic!! so it’s a bit frustrating and makes me unmotivated to be seen.
3.METAPHYSICAL RESISTANT 2016-2017 New York City
Metaphysical Resistant experiments with symbol, barrier, and self-representation through photography and paint. This series is aligned with my own initial arrival in the United States from Cyprus by way of Iran. There, I was limited by cultural and societal expectations and rule of law. In the States, I was drawn to the promise of freedom and all of the possibilities that come with it. And yet… Like so many people of color and minorities, I experienced what felt like a restrictive metaphysical frustration with boundaries. In some ways, I was still limited. There was yet another barrier, one much more difficult to comprehend
U: What are you currently working on?
L: I am working on a non-fictional short film about motherhood and the process of making a decision to be a mother, part of my ongoing project, “BabyMaybe.”
I am co-curating a show with La Artcore called “Alien Race: Envisioning Sites of our Future Ancestors.”
Bi-Lingering, another project, is an extension of Gazelle Samizay and myself ’s an ongoing collaborative project, Woven, which uses their experiences as women of Iranian and Afghan heritage to look at the way cultural expectations and memory transcend borders.
Bi-Lingering aims to communicate an experience of duality—existing between cultures and language of power. Our intention is to create a deeper understanding of our immigrant communities to help them understand for themselves and organize how to deal with our duality in our native language.
U: Why is making and creating art important to you?
L: I see art as a great tool for self-expression and healing at the same time. I found it always difficult to communicate, especially directly; having grown up in Iran where dealing with family and society's expectations and proving yourself and your value, you really need strength as you move forward. My creative process and activities connect and uplift underrepresented voices. These portraits, films, and multidisciplinary pieces weave layered stories, generating positive social impact by challenging stereotypes and encouraging discussion across diverse communities.
As an Iranian artist living in the diaspora, the value of diversity and intersectionality has always been very close to my heart and my creative practice. Photography, documentary filmmaking, and facilitating conversations among disparate immigrant communities allow me to fill in missing, multi-faceted expressions of narratives. I believe my role in this encompasses many facets of what it means to be an artist: researcher, risk-taker, storyteller, and community organizer. I have observed how immigrants may feel judged and have fear around sharing due to the language barrier, stereotypes, and accents. I use my work to create an invitation and a platform to open up conversations.
SelfPortrait/ My plastic bump
Title: SelfPortrait/ My plastic bump materials used: Performance, Photography year completed: 2019
This self-portrait was captured at the Salton Sea in California. The environmental site, which serves as an important stopping point for migratory waterfowl and as a critical habitat for birds moving south to Mexico and Central America, faces threats of further toxic waste, climate change, air pollution, and environmental racism. By asking my BabyMaybe research questions in this landscape, I confront the social and economic issues of parenting.
U: Who is someone you would love to collaborate with on an exhibit, and why?
Sarah Maple is an award-winning visual artist. I like her provocative and bold work and the sense of humor she is bringing some feminism concern.
My past work has explored gender, racism, and isolation through mediums such as installation, sculpture, photography, and mixed media. Key values in my work are to confront stereotypes, challenge singular markers of a person’s identity, and connect and strengthen the complexity of immigrant community members’ narratives. In ‘Woven’, for example, I am interested in the way cultural expectations and the effects of war transcend borders and affect women despite their location. In Baby Maybe, I confront the expectation of women to choose motherhood.
BabyMaybe Performance HERSTORY: THROUGH THE FEMININE LENS CLOSING RECEPTION + BABYMAYBE PERFORMANCE
BabyMaybe is an interactive project by Labkhand Olfatmanesh which explores the taboos and stories of people who identify as women and their relationship to parenting across age and time.
U: What exhibit or project have you done that has had the most impact on you as an artist?
L: “BabyMaybe” from the point of being active and dynamic and capturing people’s reactions or having an honest conversation with people who were touched by the presents of these babies. Plastic baby dolls which imperfectly resemble actual human beings provoke uncanny or strangely familiar feelings of eeriness and revulsion in observers. Basically, it was art that freaked people out. And I liked that… More soon!
For more information about Labkhand’s artwork please visit her site, and also follow her on Instagram.
