Meet Farzaneh and Bahareh Safarani | Visual Artists

We had the good fortune of connecting with Farzaneh and Bahareh Safarani and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Farzaneh and Bahareh, how do you think about risk?
Growing up choosing to become an artist was certainly considered a ballsy move. We took a chance in our passion and love for art, and pursued it with everything we’ve had. Even after graduating from college, leaving our entire support network, family, friends, and the city we grew up in was a huge risk, which we took wholeheartedly in our quest to become the best artists we can. These are surely the bolder risks that we have taken in our lives, but our daily lives are intertwined with risk-taking. From a subtle risk taken with the stroke of a brush because you can never be sure of what it brings, to exploring new avenues of art and fusing different methods together, it is by taking a risk that an artist gets to live. Of course, with the risk comes the reward, but it is utterly important to put yourself out there, vulnerable, and to embrace what it brings next. taking risk has become a need for lives as artists without it there will be no growth and no more success.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
We are visual artists mostly known for our performative video painting, with a strong emphasis on mixed media arts, more specifically video paintings (in which a video is projected onto a painting). We are perhaps amongst the ones that have elevated the technique and visibility of the method within our community. Our paintings are born from within, with a personal view that is naturally influenced by our experiences as immigrant women. What’s most unique about our work is that the two of us work alongside each other, with a perfect harmony of thoughts and technique. The whole journey started when we were in middle-school and by taking painting classes in Tehran, Iran, igniting an ever-burning fire within us that took us to college and choosing this as our career. Although training for a classical fine art discipline can be tedious, our love for painting made it rather easy for us to take every class available to us and become the artists we are today. As any other women in a patriarchal society, rising above the status quo and finding our own voice and audience was definitely a challenge; however, relying on each other, and on our abilities, we only grew bigger and raised above the challenge we faced. The essence of our work is to collaborate, and to build a welcoming world [through our artwork] for others to join in. What we have accomplished together would have never been possible on our own, and that’s the biggest lesson we have learned in this journey: together we go far.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Nathen Felde ( Professor at Northeastern university) , Mira Cantor (Professor at Northeastern university), Roya Khadjavi ( Curator RK LLC) Adam Adelson ( Director of the Adelsons Galleries). Museum of Fine Arts Boston.

Website: www.safaranisisters.com

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Image Credits
Zacharie Lanoue