Hura MIRSHEKARI
Singer & visual artist

Hura received a creative grant in partnership with the Atelier des Artistes en Exil.

What is your artistic background ?
I am a visual artist whose work focuses on modern art, collage, and performance. After studying at the University of Sistan and Baluchestan in Iran, I exhibited my work for the first time at the John Natsoulas Center for the Arts in 2010. In my art, I want to denounce the violence and discrimination that women face, especially in my country, Iran. I continued my journey in Tehran where I exhibited at the Tehran Museum of Art in 2015. Unable to express myself freely in Iran about the causes I defend, I arrived in France in 2016, at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris. I have been a member of the Atelier des Artistes en Exil since 2017. Since I have been in France, I have had the opportunity to participate in several exhibitions, notably at the Musée National de l'Histoire de l'Immigration in Paris, at the Cité internationale des Arts, at the Écomusée or during the International Women's Rights Day. Singing and music have been a dream for me since I was a child, but it is also a very restricted artform for women in my country, as the first opponents of singing are often family members. With this project, supported by the Atelier des Artistes en Exil, I will be considered the first female singer of the Sistan region. This is a way for me to break a taboo in Sistani culture. I am convinced that this work will be considered as the first legacy of Sistani music history.

How do you view your profession today ?
My profession as an artist represents my whole life. I build myself around my art. Being very demanding of myself, I always need new creations, new projects. Before I only knew life in a country where I could not fully explore my thoughts because I was forbidden, I could not express myself freely. Now that I can defend the causes which I have always fought for without my life being in danger, many doors are open to me and I want to explore everything.

How do you see yourself in 5 years ? In 10 years ?
I find it hard to predict my future, I live my art in the present moment, a lot of new things happen without being planned. I can't hope for anything specific in the next few years, but I would like my work to be recognized, to have more visibility and that the political messages, especially around women's rights, that I transcribe in my works, can have the recognition they deserve.

This interview was conducted in 2022
Photography credit : Julie Glassberg