Tannaz Farsi

Iranian-American, b. 1974, Tehran, Iran, lives and works in Eugene, OR

Tannaz Farsi: Untitled

Aug 27 - Dec 5

Portland State University Schnitzer School of Art

2000 SW 5th Ave, Portland, OR 97201

Tues, Weds, Fri: 12:00 - 5:00 PM; Thurs: 2:00-7:00 PM

About the Project

Tannaz Farsi (Eugene) creates large-scale installations that interrogate how collective memory and cultural identity are constructed in the public sphere. For the 2026 C45 Triennial, Farsi debuts a new sculpture inspired by the spatial geometries and storytelling of 13th-century Islamic scrolls at PSU’s Schnitzer School of Art. The complex work compresses imagery from LIFE magazine with organic elements like flowers and water, and domestic items like Persian rugs. This assembly references nomadic life and the recirculation of ideas regarding "home" shaped by political conditions, highlighting how fragile, everyday materials bear the weight of history.

Artist Bio

Born in Iran, Farsi creates project-based configurations of objects and images that address the complicated networks around memory, history, identity, and geography. Drawing from cultural objects, feminist histories, and theories of displacement—evidenced by long-standing colonialist and authoritarian interventions into daily life—her practice proposes alternative means of representation for non-Western subjects that obstruct singular, conventional means of identification.

Farsi's work has been exhibited at prominent regional and national venues, including the SFAC Galleries (San Francisco), Portland Institute for Contemporary Art (PICA), Oregon Contemporary (formerly Disjecta), Pitzer College Art Galleries (Claremont), Tacoma Art Museum, the Urban Institute of Contemporary Art (Grand Rapids), Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, and The Sculpture Center (Cleveland). She has been granted prestigious residencies at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art, the MacDowell Colony, and the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation.

Her practice has been generously supported through grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the Oregon Arts Commission, the University of Oregon, The Ford Family Foundation, and the Bonnie Bronson Fund. She lives and works in Eugene, where she is on the faculty at the University of Oregon and serves as co-chair of the Sculpture program.