“This is why I need art. Because I am not very good at expressing things through words. The art is out of necessity at this point.”

Born and raised in Iran, Kiana Honarmand first experienced the magic of self-expression through music. “There was something that happened to me with the medium and expression that felt like magic. It gave me another language in which I could express myself,” Kiana described.

In high school, she studied math and physics, pivoting to art one year before attending university. Kiana went on to study photography at the University of Tehran, Iran, where her education was rooted in tradition and honing her technical skills.

It wasn’t until she immigrated to the United States in 2012 and began her MFA at Pennsylvania State University that she had the opportunity to explore interdisciplinary arts. She explained, “I became really curious because I had never done any of these things. I started really experimenting and broadening my horizons.” This shifted her way of looking at what she did and as a result, her practice became more conceptually driven. Kiana’s work used digital fabrication tools and traditional methods of craft.

Kiana’s skills continued to develop over the years and she used different mediums to help tell her story. “You have to allow yourself to mess up. Playing and experimenting is a big part of any creative process,” she said. “If you put the pressure of perfection on your first try, you are just putting limitations on yourself,” she continued.

Her solo and group shows, displayed around the US, have allowed her to share the process of immigration and the stigma that comes with it, censorship, and her experiences as a woman in patriarchal Iran. “I’m interested in finding ways to connect with people through our shared experiences, and I found that art is a much kinder way to start a conversation,” she said.

Kiana moved to the Bay Area near the end of 2019 and found it challenging to connect with her new community due to the pandemic. Luckily, residencies such as Root Division in San Francisco and The Cubberley Artists Studio Program in Palo Alto helped her maintain her artistic development. Kiana explained, “This is why I need art. Because I am not very good at expressing things through words. The art is out of necessity at this point.”

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