Bio
Self-portrait, 2021
Mona Bozorgi is an artist-scholar whose interdisciplinary research and artistic practice explore the correlation between representation and performativity in photography. Bozorgi’s artistic practice is intertwined with posthuman critical theory and focuses on the process of the materialization of bodies and its impact on the construction and production of identities. As an Iranian-born artist, her work confronts historical exclusions based on gender, provides alternative ways of understanding the contemporary self, and explores the intersections of bodies and technology.
Bozorgi received her MFA in Photography from the Savannah College of Art and Design, and she is currently working on her doctoral dissertation in the interdisciplinary Fine Arts program at Texas Tech. Bozorgi has been Assistant Professor of Photography at Florida State University since 2022.
CV
Education
2018- present Ph.D., Interdisciplinary Arts; Critical Studies and Artistic Practice, Texas Tech University, TX USA.
2018-2021 Graduate Certificate, Women’s and Gender Studies, Texas Tech University, TX USA.
2015-2018 MFA, Photography, Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), GA USA.
1999-2004 BA, Photography, Azad Art and Architecture University, Tehran, Iran.
2000-2004 AA, Interior Design, Nezamolmolk Art Institute, Tehran, Iran.
Selected Awards, Honors, and Residencies
2023 The First Year Assistant Professor Award (FYAP), Florida State University; Tallahassee, FL USA.
2020-2022 The Alan & Lee Ann White – Regents Endowed Scholarship in CVPA, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX USA.
2018-2021 The CH Foundation fellowship, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX USA.
2020 First Prize Justice Art Contest, The Humanity Center at Texas Tech University and Landmark Arts in the School of Art, Texas Tech University, TX USA.
2020 Nominated for the Walden Graduate Prize (outstanding emerging scholars in popular culture studies) at the Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association 2019 annual conference for the project “The Spatial Self: Selfie, and the Politics of Female Representation in Iran,” Pittsburg, PA USA.
2019-2020 The Helen Jones Foundation Art Talent Fellowship, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX USA.
2019 Juror, 2019 International Artists-in-Residence at I-Park, East Haddam, CT USA.
2019 Second Prize “My Hometown” Photography Competition, Texas Tech University, TX USA.
2019 First Prize Psychology Art Fair, Texas Tech University, TX USA.
2018-2019 The Alan & Lee Ann White – Regents Endowed Scholarship in CVPA, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX USA.
2018 18th Annual Review Santa Fe, Center, Santa Fe, NM USA.
2013 KulturKountakt Artist in Residence (AIR) Program, Vienna, Austria.
Conference Presentations
2023 “From Graduation to Where: Navigating Post-MFA Journeys toward a Fine Arts Doctoral Degree,” Panelist, SECAC 2023 Conference, October 13, 2023; Richmond, VA USA.
2023 “Shared Photographs as Agentic Data.” Lecture, Feminist Art History Conference, American University, September 30, 2023; Washington DC USA.
2021 “Virtual Reality in Art Education.” Panelist, 2021 Mid- Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA) Conference, November 11; Pittsburgh, PA USA.
2021 “Photography and Nonhuman Agency.” Lecture, The Society for Photographic Education (SPESC) Conference: Embracing Change, October 30; Richardson, TX USA.
2021 “Feminist Thought in Contemporary Photographic Art Practice.” Feminist Theory to Action - Roundtable; The Annual Women’s and Gender Studies Virtual Conference (online due to COVID-19); Texas Tech University; April 23; Lubbock, TX USA.
2020 “The Effect of Discriminatory Laws and Policies on Sex-Reassignment in Iran.” Policy presentation; The Women’s and Gender Studies Virtual Conference (online due to COVID-19); Texas Tech University; April 28; Lubbock, TX USA.
2020 “Objet Fatale: Photography and Representations of Female Subjects.” Lecture/ Artist Presentation, The Society for Photographic Education (SPE) 56th Annual International Conference: 20/20 Vision, March 6, 2020; Houston, TX USA.
2020 “The Spatial Self: Selfie, and the Politics of Female Representation in Iran.” Panelist, 2020 South West Popular & American Culture Association (SWPACA) Conference, February 21; Albuquerque, NM USA.
2019 “The Spatial Self: Selfie, and the Politics of Female Representation in Iran.” Panelist, The 9th Annual Texas Tech University Arts & Humanities Research Conference, November 19; Lubbock, TX USA.
2019 “The Spatial Self: Selfie, and the Politics of Female Representation in Iran.” Panelist, 2019 Mid-Atlantic Popular & American Culture Association (MAPACA) Conference, November 7; Pittsburgh, PA USA.
2019 “Objet Fatale: Photography and Representations of Female Subjects.” Panelist, Bodies: An Interdisciplinary Conference, University of St. Thomas, April 26; St. Paul, MN USA.
Selected Exhibitions
Solo
2018 Objet Fatale, Welmont Gallery, Savannah, GA, USA.
2011 Body as Dress Stand, Atbin Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2006 Me, Woman, Time, Atbin Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
Group and Selected Juried
2023 2024 Border Biennial / Bienal Fronteriza 2024, The El Paso Museum of Art (EPMA), El Paso, TX USA.
2023 2023 SPE SC/SE Member Exhibition, Schley Gallery in the Corn Center for the Visual Arts at Columbus State University, juried by Erin Dunn, Columbus, GA USA.
2023 Center Forward 2023, The Center for Fine Art Photography. Juried by Charles Guice and Hamidah Glasgow. Fort Collins, CO USA.
2023 Fast Forward, Gutstein Gallery, Savannah, GA USA.
2023 Photo London, Presented by SCAD Museum of Fine Arts, Curated by Ben Tollefson, London, UK.
2023 We Are Not Free to Move About the World, Curated by Grace Aneiza Ali, Florida State University Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee, FL USA.
2023 Weft//Women Empowering Fiber Traditions, Curated by Tenee Hart, Tallahassee City Hall Gallery, Tallahassee, FL USA.
2022 Here, Photography Exhibition, Galleri 1, Uppsala, Sweden.
2022 Anti-racism, Juried Art Exhibition hosted by the Humanities Center at Texas Tech University, East Lubbock Art House; Lubbock, TX USA.
2022 Here, Photography Exhibition, Studio 44, Stockholm, Sweden.
2021 Embracing Change, the 2021 SPESC Member Photography Exhibition, Juried by Christopher Blay, SP/N Gallery, the University of Texas at Dallas; Richardson, TX USA.
2020 The 8th Annual International Combined Caucus Juried Exhibition organized in conjunction with the 57th Annual SPE Conference, 20/20 Vision, photography exhibition Juried by Zackary Drucker, Box 13 Gallery, Houston, TX USA.
2020 Justice Art Exhibition, Satellite Gallery at Charles Adams Studio Project, juried by a panel of Humanities Center Advisory Board Members, Lubbock, TX USA.
2020 Portrait 2020, Photography Exhibition, CICA Museum, Gimpo, South Korea.
2017 Portals, photography exhibition Juried by Aline Smithson, PhotoPlace Gallery, VT USA.
2017 I, The Photographer, photography exhibition, Mehrva Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2017 Possibilities Deux, Sulfur Studios, Experimental digital printmaking, Savannah, GA USA.
2017 SCAD deFine Art Photography Showcase, Alexander Hall, Savannah, GA USA.
2016 A Sense of Place, photography exhibition Juried by Jane Fulton Alt, PhotoPlace Gallery, VT USA.
2016 Seities & Selves, photography exhibition Juried by Aline Smithson, Darkroom Gallery, VT USA.
2014 Oculus, photography exhibition, Mehrva Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2014 White Night Art Event, Skopje, Macedonia.
2014 Abkapselne, Priscope Project Space, Salzburg, Austria.
2014 Axtagram, photography exhibition, Mehrva Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2014 Joy Land, photography exhibition, Mehrva Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2013 The First Journal Art Festival, Ghasr Museum Garden, Tehran, Iran.
2013 Artist in Residence presentation for KultureKontakt, Exhibition Space of the Federal Ministry for education the Arts and Culture, Vienna, Austria.
2012 Azarbayjan’s Natural Disaster, photography exhibition, Milad Tower’s Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran. Held to aid the injured people in Azarbayjan’s Earthquake.
2012 The First Annual Festival of Portraiture, photography exhibition, Arte Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2012 The 9th Image of the Year, photography Exhibition, Iranian Artists Forum, Tehran, Iran.
Memberships
2008- present National Iranian Photography
2017- present Society for Photographic Education (SPE)