Welcome to Jamiliartnyc.com
-A place where art comes to life. As a transplanted Persian American artist living in NYC, I am thrilled to share my love of painting with you. Each of my pieces tells a unique story that is both captivating and thought-provoking. Join me on a journey of wonder and inspiration.
Discover me through my paintings and sculptures - I reveal myself
Figurative Paintings
Portrait Paintings
I am a Persian American artist, originally from Kashmir, a small religious town near the Afghanistan-Iran border. My childhood and adolescence were defined by hard work in my father’s grocery store and farm, as well as experiences of physical punishment and adversity. Despite the cultural norms restricting girls in my family from education and creativity, I was fortunate to attend school, where I secretly nurtured a love for music, literature, and art.
During my teenage years, I clandestinely explored literature and art, despite severe opposition from my parents. My mother was a Quran teacher who did not allow me and my siblings to listen to any music, dance, paint, or read any books except the Quran. Her God was against all these things, even laughing out loud. I always resisted the wishes of my parents and was a norm breaker, because I hated the black hijab Quran reading or five prayers during a day from the age of five. During my teenage years, I secretly listened to music with a small tape recorder, looked at my naked figure in the mirror, and drew it on paper. I secretly went to a small library after my high school classes and borrowed books, I read at night under the oil lamp with great enthusiasm and fear of my parents. I secretly read “Gone with the Wind” and “Desiree” many times when I was fifteen and fell in love with European and American culture. Sometimes my parents found all my paintings, poems, writing, and many books, they beat me with a whip many times for breaking their norm, and my whole body was completely bruised and black. Also, they wanted to force me to learn the Quran well and to marry by whipping and corporal punishment because my older sister was married at the age of thirteen... I escaped from that situation, home, and small town by going to Mashhad University for a Bachelor of Physical Education and Sport, a journey that liberated me from the constraints of my upbringing.
Following a decade-long marriage and life in Tehran, I divorced and intensified my study of drawing and painting with private tutors and at Tehran University. Despite familial resistance, I boldly established my own Art Gallery, where I not only sold my artworks but also taught painting to a diverse range of students. Despite my success, my family never fully accepted my artistic pursuits due to their strict religious beliefs.
Facing increasing harassment from Iranian authorities and personal challenges, I fled to Turkey, where I found solace in teaching Christian refugee women painting. In 2013, I converted to Christianity, a pivotal moment that instilled in me a commitment to forgiveness, compassion, and artistic expression as forms of healing.
In December 2016, I immigrated to the United States through the United Nations, where I initially struggled with English and technology. Despite these challenges, I taught drawing and painting to fellow Iranians and eventually found fulfillment as an art teacher at the World Bank Children's Center in Washington DC. After six years, I relocated to New York City in July 2023 to pursue my artistic dreams.
For over eleven years, I was separated from my son, a pain that felt like a constant, unhealing wound. Throughout this time, I lived in fear for his safety, especially during the pandemic when he was forced to stay in a dormitory far from home. The silence of those years, the overwhelming anxiety, and the heartache of not being able to hold him in my arms were unbearable. As an artist, I had to leave my country and family, but the price I paid was far greater than I could ever have imagined. The longing for my son consumed me; at times, it felt like I couldn’t go on. Yet, through all the years of struggle, the hope of one day being reunited with him kept me alive. Now, after so much pain and waiting, my son is finally here with me in New York. He got his visa on 12/07/2024. This reunion is the most beautiful and healing moment of my life, but the scars of those years apart will always be with me, a constant reminder of the deep love and sacrifice that defined my journey.
My artistic journey has encompassed over a decade of creating paintings and sculptures, many of which remain unseen due to fears of familial reprisal. Despite this, I launched a website in December 2023 to showcase my work, marking a courageous step forward in sharing my art with the world.
Today, my artworks—particularly portraits and sculptures—reflect themes of personal resilience and healing. I am passionate about teaching art, especially to children, whom I view as little angels deserving of creative expression and love.
In pursuit of my dreams, I am currently a Master of Fine Arts student living and working as an art teacher in New York. Nevertheless, I remain dedicated to enhancing my skills through continuous learning in art, sculpture, photography, and physical fitness.
As a new citizen of the United States since 2022, I am inspired by the American Dream and committed to achieving my artistic aspirations while advocating for freedom and humanity. I am not aligned with any political group and believe deeply in the power of art to transcend cultural and religious boundaries. I haven't endorsed any political faction, and I won't and I have not and will not participate in any political rally or march. My support extends to all innocent individuals and children worldwide, irrespective of their religion they killed or suffered a lot. Above all, I believe and trust love, forgiveness, generosity, and humanity in our world. I hold deep respect for those who strive to create a more beautiful world for children, and I steadfastly believe in the freedom of all individuals on Earth, as I value freedom myself, and I have endured significant struggles to achieve freedom.
"I only ask to be free. The butterflies are free"—Charles Dickens
How and Why I Made These Ballet Dancers?
I used to take walks in the nearby streets of my home 3 years ago. One of my neighbors had placed golf clubs next to their trash can, and they had discarded them. I involuntarily approached them and picked them up, feeling their texture for the first time in my life. Previously, I had only seen pictures of them. They were remarkably similar to ballet dancers. During that year, I had gone to a ballet dance concert twice at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. That memory was also astonishing to me because I was in love with ballet dancing, I had never seen a ballet dancer up close. This inspired me to take the golf clubs and bring them home to create ballet dancer sculptures with them.
I washed them and for about a month, they were in my bedroom. Before sleep, I would gaze at them, wondering how to turn them into ballet dancers. I decided to paint an eye on the golf club heads and adorned the upper and lower parts of the golf club with glittering, shiny, and colorful particles. I’ve always had a fascination with shiny and sparkling things, a preference rooted in a childhood story, which I briefly explained in part 1, and why I use shiny materials in my artwork. I also used yarn for the decorations on the body and the golf club wood. My choice of yarn also relates directly to my childhood memories, which I elaborated on in part 2. These childhood memories have a profound and direct impact on my painting and artworks because I was born and raised in a small town in Iran, near the Afghan border. The people, customs, and challenging life of those villages during my childhood are unforgettable. I had only seven golfs to start with when I began crafting my ballet dancers who danced in my mind’s universe and filled me with happiness and wonder. My list of dancers grew day by day, and I eventually found a shop where I could purchase more golf clubs to continue my project. My list had no specific basis; it included individuals I wished I could meet and have dinner with someday, even if they were no longer alive that I admire, actors, artists, and successful and famous people whom I believe have had a positive impact on our planet. Also, I made a lot of statues of ballet dancers to honor those killed on September 11 in America and innocent people killed in different wars who were not famous but contributed to making the earth a more beautiful place. People like those who had passed away due to earthquakes in Turkey and Syria or due to conflicts in Ukraine or my own country, Iran. I would like to thank you to all of them. I worked on this project for about three years, and after my exhausting daily work, I would continue crafting my ballet dancers until midnight, adding to their numbers.
My list is much larger than what you see, and I have many other names of people whom I’d like to paint on golf club heads, perform calligraphy on golf club shafts, and cover their bodies with yarn and embellish them with beautiful, shiny particles. However, after three years with these dancers, as I have become immersed and enamored with this project I realize that many more people inspire me to make a ballet dance with golf clubs for them and add their names to my list. These additional people will appear in my next show. My beautiful ballet dancers grace my universe with their dance, enhancing the beauty of my studio and expanding my universe with each moment.
Why do I use shiny particles a lot in my artworks and I love them?
Why is cotton Yarn so important in the creation of my artworks?
Art Classes
I have been an art teacher for over twenty years and I love my work and my student.
I have been teaching painting for about twenty years. I started with a small gallery and then moved to a better gallery in a better area until I was able to buy my own gallery in Iran. In my gallery in Iran, I taught figure and portrait painting using various materials such as black pen, pastel, colored pencil, and oil paint. I had a special skill in teaching art to my students and was very serious and motivated in my work. My classes were always full, and I even had students coming from neighboring cities to attend my classes. During that time, I copied the works of painter William-Adolphe Bouguereau and was very interested in his figures. During my three and a half years in Turkey as a refugee, I also had students among the Christian refugees, teaching them figurative and portrait painting for free. In the United States, I worked as an art teacher at the World Bank Children's Center for six years in Washington DC, introducing famous artists to my students and incorporating their works into my curriculum. Some of the artists such as Frank Stella, Henri Matisse, Alma Thomas, Yayoi Kusama, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pablo Picasso, Georgia O’Keeffe, Keith Haring, Vincent Van Gogh, Wayne Thiebaud, Paul Cezanne, Salvador Dali, Helen Hardin, Stephen Mopope, Wu Changshuo, Andy Warhol, Leonardo Da Vinci, Claude Monet, Qi Baishi, Guan Zilan, Joan Miro, Paul Cezanne, Salvador Dali, Michelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinci, Norman Rockwell, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol, Helen Hardin, Raja Ravi Varma, Stephen Mopope, Wassily Kandinsky, Takashi Murakami, Frida Kahlo, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian, Parviz Tanavoli, Piet Mondrian, Wayne Thiebaud, Frank Stella, Faith Ringgold, Piet Mondrian, Maurits Cornelis Escher, Anwar Jalal Schema, Rasheed Araeen, Joan Miro, El Anatsui, Nnenna Okore, Piet Mondrian. I also read books or watched videos about the artists for my students and introduced them to famous museums. During these art classes and teachings, I gained much knowledge and enjoyment. I had to acquire sufficient knowledge about these artists and made a great effort to teach art history to my students in a very simple language to keep them curious and interested in art. Additionally, during weekends at the Plaza Gallery, I had Iranian students whom I taught figure and portrait painting in a very specialized manner. Six months ago, in July 2023, I moved my work to New York and am currently working as a teacher. I am also trying to establish connections with artists and the artistic community in New York. In my portfolio, I have included photos of classes and various courses, as well as photos of my artwork. Other artists and art teachers might find them useful.
