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Exhibition: ‘Reminders of Home: Persian Art Connecting Homeland and Diaspora’
August 22, 2018 - December 8, 2018
Reminders of Home: Persian Art Connecting Homeland and Diaspora features select Persian artwork and artifacts that provide a glimpse into a culture that has cultivated an extensive legacy of art over the past 5,000 years. Many art forms have flourished through the millennia, including architecture, calligraphy, miniature painting, weaving, pottery, metalworking and sculpture. This exhibition explores Persian art through objects of everyday use borrowed from Iranian community members in North Carolina, as well as select reproductions from the Ackland Art Museum’s collection dating from the 17th and 18th centuries. Reminders of Home examines the historical and cultural significance of Persian art for the lives of Iranian families both in North Carolina and Iran.
Many items in the exhibition were created in Iran and brought to North Carolina by members of the Iranian community and serve to reinforce the connection between the diaspora and their homeland and to preserve cultural traditions. Interviews with the Iranian community in North Carolina demonstrate how art can gain nuanced meanings in new settings while also providing reminders of home.
A free public reception celebrating the exhibition will take place on September 21, 2018, beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the FedEx Global Education Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The reception will feature welcoming remarks and a performance, Folk Music of Iran. Additional information about the opening reception can be found here.
Reminders of Home will be on display at the FedEx Global Education Center from August 22 to December 8, 2018.
The FedEx Global Education Center, located at 301 Pittsboro Street in Chapel Hill, is open weekdays from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m. and on select Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
The exhibition is hosted by UNC Global and is organized by the Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations and Global Relations, in collaboration with the Iranian Cultural Society of North Carolina.
Additional support is provided by the UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Global Initiatives; Department of Art; Department of Asian Studies and the Persian Studies program; Department of Classics; Department of Music; and the Duke Islamic Studies Center.
Special thanks to the Ackland Art Museum, University Libraries, and the Iranian Cultural Society of North Carolina for loaning or reproducing several pieces from their collections.
Exhibition contact: Ingrid Smith, manager of events and exhibitions, UNC Global, ingrid.smith@unc.edu.
Media contact: Katie Bowler Young, director of global relations, UNC Global, kbowler@unc.edu, 919.962.4504.