Sara Madandar is an Iranian multi-disciplinary artist based in New Orleans. She received her MFA from the University of Texas at Austin and her BA in painting from the Azad University of Art and Architecture in Tehran. Through a range of media such as painting, video, installation, and performance—Madandar explores migration and the human experience of living in between cultures.

Her work uses the aesthetics of language, clothing, and bodies to study the complexities of cross-cultural experiences from a unique perspective. Madandar’s most recent accolades include an award from the Texas Visual Artists Association (TVAA) and an award from the Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC) for an exhibition curated by Jessica Beck of the Andy Warhol museum. Sara’s work has been featured at Co-Lab Projects, Elga Wimmer PCC, New Orleans Museum of Art, Austin City Hall, New Orleans Contemporary Art Center, Elisabeth Ney Museum, Mom Gallery, Courtyard Gallery, and the Asian American Resource Center.

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Sara will be working on her series “Window” while in residence. She writes:

The idea of home as a shelter, and windows as connections to the public sphere, is a central concept to my new series “The Window.” I have completed its first painting, titled “Window #1”, which uses technology to transform itself over the course of a day. The frame mimics traditional Iranian windows in their arched shape, while the red, yellow, blue, and green colors evoke their stained-glass panes. But there’s more to the painting than meets the eye. Hidden behind the basic colors, the painting continues on the back of the canvas, where nude figures are painted. They are not visible by daylight, but as the sun sets, the painting comes to life. LED lights built into the back of the frame gradually brighten as the sky outside darkens. The light reveals the figures behind the canvas much like one can peer into a home when its lights go on at night. When the sun rises in the morning, the light slowly fades away, hiding the nude figures and returning the privacy to the “residents” of the painting.

This series plays on the concept of a home as both a protective shelter, but also a barrier that isolates its inhabitants by censoring what’s inside. Windows break that barrier, allowing us to look outside while letting the light in. Curtains create a compromise where we receive light while still hiding within. By opening the curtains, we lift the censorship over our bodies, exposing ourselves to the world. In the paintings comprising “The Window” series, the frame is the window and the canvas is the curtain. The light emanating from within the painting is the metaphorical opening of the curtains. The nude figures inside, however, do not feel shame in their exposure to the world: they sit comfortably, unafraid of the outside gaze. Through this exposure, I try to explore the notion that censoring our bodies, be it with walls, clothes or veils, is what creates the shame we live with. The exposure of the nude self through the intentional opening of the curtains by light shatters the censorship of shame – replacing it instead with a confident self that, unencumbered by societal judgement, engages the outside world.