Afarin Rahmanifar,  born in Tehran, Iran, is an Iranian American Artist/Educator/ Curator based in Connecticut. She holds her Master of Fine Arts degree from University of Connecticut and is currently Associate Professor at Eastern Connecticut State University, Art & Art History Department. She specializes in painting, mixed media, installation, printmaking, animated motion picture film, and Persian miniature.

Rahmanifar’s artistic vision originates from intersecting points of Eastern and Western culture.  She understands her journey toward her present identity as an Iranian American woman through these concepts: “separation” from what one has been a part of and “belonging” to that which is different - “appearing” then “disappearing” then “reappearing” again.  The intellectual and emotional parts of the self are changed through the act of Separation; the changed self belongs both to the past and to the present.

Rahmanifar strives to show the female body as a vessel moving through this journey, taking in new experiences for the mind to process. Her on-going research from recent decades depicts women’s participation in art, poetry and warfare throughout history.  She says, “My work is bound by my experience of living in exile from Tehran, the city where I grew up, in the aftermath of the Iranian Revolution.  My interests have always been the stories of women in relation to politics, culture, religion, and sexuality within repressed societies.  Regardless of how far an artist is removed and apart from her homeland, politics becomes part of her artistic life.  The terrifying feeling of censorship has always cast a shadow over my artistic work.  But my protagonist figures ignore these distractions and continue to appear and reappear in my imagery”.

Rahmanifar blends Persian queens with the Western images of Barbie dolls in renderings that look ancient and modern at the same time. 

Her most recent project “Women of Shahnameh- The Memories Between”, is a mixed media Installation that recalls Shahnameh, the Persian “Book of Kings”, an epic poem written in the tenth century by the poet Ferdowsi.  This large scale installation is steeped in the stories of the women in Shahnameh and invites viewers to an alternative reading. Rahmanifar emphasizes virtue and heroic action by telling stories of the Persian women in Shahnameh.  The rich imagery, size and composition of her installations.  This encourages and ensures great engagement by the viewer. Likewise her short animated film components  update the tenth  century version for the contemporary viewer.

Her work has been exhibited and privately collected nationally and internationally. She has exhibited extensively across the United States, China, India, and Canada. Her exhibitions including Soho 20 gallery, NY; The Mattatuck Museum; Columbia University NYC; Towson University MD; La Poisson Rouge, NYC; Benton Museum, CT; Sacred Heart University, CT; Yale University, CT; Juniata College, PA; Oglethorpe University, GA; Charter Oak Cultural Center, CT; Jacksonville University, FL; University of California at Berkeley, CA; University of Illinois at Carbondale; Stockton College, NJ; Framingham State College, MA; Boston University MA; Yale University CT; Gallery Ovissi CA; Barrette House gallery NY; Chattahoochee Valley Museum of Art GA; Gopalan Gallery, IN; Fuller Museum, MA; Gallery Ovissi, Reston, VA; . China International Life Expo, International Convention Center, Beijing, China; Life of Forms Through Water, Guitanjala Gallery, Panjim-Goa, India; ECSU Fine Arts Gallery, CT.

Rahmanifar has been a recipient of an Artist Residency Fellowship from the Skopelos Foundation for the Arts in Greece; Artist Residency Fellowship from School of Design & The Arts, Nantucket, MA; Artist Residency Fellowship from Vermont Studio Center, VT.  

In 2003, Afarin Rahmanifar’s artistic work was featured on the cover of Eastern Art Report Magazine, London, England. Her work and artistic life was also featured in a documentary film titled “Where Lies Beauty” produced by Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, CT.

Rahmanifar curated and co-curated exhibitions nationally and internationally; A ECSU Fine Arts Gallery; Tirgan Biennial Festival, Toronto, CA; Art Space, CT; Museum of Art at Oglethorpe University, ATL; Akus Gallery, CT.

Rahmanifar has given artist talks and participated as a panelist in gallery and museums including Columbia University, Teachers College, NYC; Benton Museum, Persepolis, Storrs, CT; NPR Round Table Panelist, Getting to know Iranian Neighbors, New Haven, CT; Art Walk Gallery, Hartford Library CT; Museum of Contemporary Art, Iranian Women Study Foundation, San Diego, CA; School of Design & The Arts, Nantucket, MA; Museum of Art, Oglethorpe University, Atlanta, GA;  L.Q.M Gallery, Panel Moderator, New London, CT; Le Poisson Rouge Gallery, NYC; Sacred Heart University, CT.