VISIT EXHIBITION

Farhang Foundation is proud to partner
with the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in presenting

NICKY NODJOUMI

The Personal Is Political

NAHID HAGIGAT

Etched In Time

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

October 6, 2024 - March 23, 2025

San Francisco

Two interconnected first solo U.S. exhibitions that offer an investigative portrait of a family of artists whose lives and outlets for creative expression become inextricably linked to political revolution.

“These two exhibitions invite us to reflect on the role of artists and the power of creative expression, especially during times of political upheaval” - Amy Kisch, Curator

Visitors will be invited to investigate these distinctive bodies of work from Nodjoumi’s surreal and kaleidoscopic paintings that explore manifestations of political power, to Hagigat’s evocative and intimate etchings about women and the ongoing struggle for freedom. Both exhibitions will be framed by an introductory gallery featuring family photos and archival material, which shed light on the personal and shared struggles that shaped each of their creative practices. The exhibition will also include a previously unexhibited 1972 animation by Nodjoumi that explores issues that continue to burden global communities to this day.

Nicky Nodjoumi, Internal Inspection, 2014

Nahid Hagigat, Three Women with Green Leaves, 2019

Read the press release

Nicky Nodjoumi

Nicky Nodjoumi was born in Kermanshah, Iran in 1942. After earning a Bachelor’s degree in Art from Tehran University of Fine Arts, Nodjoumi relocated to the United States in the late 1960s, where he received his Master’s degree in Fine Arts from The City College of New York in 1974. Following his graduation, he returned to Tehran to join the faculty of his alma mater, where he continued to engage in political protest, an activity that has been foundational to his work across decades. He began designing political posters inspired by the revolutionary spirit sweeping the country, only to be exiled once more in the aftermath of the 1979 revolution. Nodjoumi’s political engagement has continued to the present day. Nodjoumi’s works are in several prominent institutional collections worldwide, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the British Museum in London, Guggenheim Museum in Abu Dhabi, the DePaul Art Museum in Chicago, and the National Museum of Cuba. The artist lives and works in Brooklyn and is represented by ADVOCARTSY gallery in Los Angeles.

Nahid Hagigat

Nahid Hagigat, born in Tehran, Iran in 1943, is a pioneering artist whose work bridges Iranian and Western art. After graduating in Fine Arts from Tehran University, Hagigat continued her studies in the United States at New York University in the early 1970s. As she pursued her Ph.D. from New York University in Art, she often exhibited her etchings and photo etchings in Tehran and was instrumental in introducing printmaking to the Iranian art scene. In 2013, Hagigat was included in the seminal show Iran Modern, at the Asia Society in New York and recently in LACMA’s Women Defining Women In Contemporary Art of the Middle East and Beyond, in 2023. Her work is in numerous private and public collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The British Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, JP Morgan-Chase, New York University, and World Bank in Washington, D.C.  The artist lives and works in NYC and is represented by ADVOCARTSY gallery in Los Angeles.