Pantea Karimi reclaims “Context Lost”

2023 Artist in Residence concludes with Harker Speaker Series talk

December 29, 2023

Upper school media arts teacher Joshua Martinez introduces this year’s artist in residence, Pantea Karimi. Their interview was part of the Harker Speaker Series, and it discussed Karimi’s work with a scientific and historical lens.

2023 Dickinson Visual Arts Endowment Artist in Residence Pantea Karimi concluded her residency with a Q&A talk hosted by the Harker Speaker Series on Nov. 29 in the Patil Theater.

During the talk, titled “Art and Science in Historic and Political Conversations: A Conversation with Pantea Karimi,” upper school media arts teacher Joshua Martinez interviewed Karimi about the inspiration behind her work, life and RPAC exhibition “Context Lost.” Born in Shiraz, Iran, Karimih cited her mother, father and grandmother as the inspiration for her interest in art and history, medical botany and mathematics.

“My compulsion to explore the past is an investigation of my identity that simultaneously celebrates and protests my cultural heritage and my life experiences,” Karimi said. “The works that I’ve been doing surround not only my personal stories but also highlight these scientific and cultural and historic archival materials, often put into sociopolitical contexts.”

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I hope that the community sees the cultural and the historic archival materials I highlight from Iran first before the sociopolitical conflicts and issues we encounter. That’s why my exhibition is called ‘Context Lost.’ This is what people lose and do not see when they talk about Iran

— Artist in Residence Pantea Karimi

Karimi’s body of work draws from historical documents and early illustrated scientific manuscripts from Persian, Arab and European cultures. Through her installations, drawings and various Karimi aims to share Iranian history and culture with the world, especially because Iranian military and political conflicts have shrouded much of her home country’s heritage.

“I hope that the community sees the cultural and the historic archival materials I highlight from Iran first before the sociopolitical conflicts and issues we encounter,” Karimi said. “That’s why my exhibition is called ‘Context Lost.’ Because this is what people lose and do not see when they talk about Iran.”

During her residency, which began on Nov. 1, Karimi lectured at Harker art classes, held workshops for students and gave feedback to students working on their art portfolios for Harker classes and college. Because art is so often overlooked by Harker’s STEM-driven students and programs, Karimi’s work, which couples traditional art with science, allows students to expand their perception and appreciation for what art is.

Talk attendee and Honors Directed Portfolio student Julie Shi (12) helped design the promotional poster for Karimi’s residency. She appreciates the opportunity to directly speak to and learn from a successful artist like Karimi.

“When she visited our HDP class and was critiquing our pieces, she had a lot of amazing comments and insights from a professional artist,” Julie said. “She gave me a lot of advice for the ideas and composition for my art portfolio. It’s very amazing to hear her talk and hear the inner thoughts of an artist that’s on the level that she is.”

The incredible depth and visual versatility of Karimi’s work has garnered strong recognition. Prestigious institutions across the globe like the de Young Museum and Google have showcased Karimi’s artwork. Her works are held in private and public collections at YouTube, Stanford University and the NASA Ames Research Center.

“I came to the talk today because I’m really interested in art and I wanted to see what a professional artist is like,” attendee Zoe Fan (7) said. “It was really inspiring to see how she came up with these ideas, especially how she was influenced by her childhood and different parts of her culture.”

Karimi’s talk was part of the Harker Speaker Series, which aims to connect the Harker community with experts from various fields. Events like hers not only present students with valuable learning experiences but also allow members of the Harker community to make connections with and learn from influential people from the community at large. Attendees of Karimi’s talk included several major museum curators from San Jose.

“The Speaker Series element is really important for us to be able to invite outside members of the community to Harker to raise Harker’s profile and to bridge the gap between the school and the community,” Martinez said. It’s just really nice to be able to bring those people into Harker and to make that connection.”

As both an artist in residence and a Speaker Series presenter, Karimi synthesizes art and science in a visual representation of her own cultural heritage and emotions. Each of her pieces adapts scientific motifs to contextualize them within contemporary societal, geopolitical and environmental issues. Through the interconnected juxtaposition of traditional cultural aesthetics and syncretic imagery, Karimi’s art not only showcases her artistic versatility but drives forward a valuable perspective to the ongoing dialogue on cultural identity.

“I hope the audience takes away that integration of art and science has a point,” Karimi said. “It has enabled me to tell my story, it has enabled me to reveal archival materials, it has enabled me to tell the story of the sociopolitical conflicts and issues, all of this.”