Tarlan Rafiee

Tarlan Rafiee (born 1980; Persian: طرلان رفیعی) is an Iranian visual artist, and curator.^[3][1] She is known for her international contributions to Iranian modern and contemporary art.

Rafiee embarked on her career as an artist in 2001, when she participated in a group exhibition in Tehran. Since then, she has exhibited her work in several group exhibitions exhibitions across Iran,^[4] as well as in Dubai,^[5][6] Austria,^[7] France, Italy, the United States of America, Denmark, and Armenia.

Her notable exhibition including "Cars: Accelerating the Modern World" (2013) at the Victoria & Albert Museum;^[8] "Iranian Voices" (2017), curated by Venetia Porter at the British Museum;^[9] and "Solace of Lovers: Trost Der Liebenden" (2020–2021) at the Tyrolean State Museum, which she also co-curated.^[10]

Rafiee's artworks are housed in international collections such as the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,^[11] British Museum,^[1] the Victoria & Albert Museum,^[12][13] Ducal Palace, Mantua,^[14] and the Tyrolean State Museum.

Rafiee initiated her curatorial career with the "Calling Project" in 2013, facilitating an exchange exhibition between British and Iranian artists. Since then, she has curated numerous exhibitions in Iran, Dubai, Austria, and Italy.

Notable among her projects is, "Good Morning... Good Night. Five artists and a curator from Iran" held at the Ducal Palace, Mantua,^[15][16] where she served as both curator, and wrote of the accompanying exhibition book. It exhibited works from noted Iranian female artists, including Parvaneh Etemadi, Farah Ossouli, Nargess Hashemi, and Rozita Sharafjahan.^[16] The same exhibition was invited to take place at the Castello del Monferrato in Casale Monferrato.^[17][18]

Another exhibition in her career is "Solace of Lovers: Trost Der Liebenden" (2020–2021), a collaborative curation effort with her spouse Yashar Samimi Mofakham, and the state museum director Peter Assmann, for the Tyrolean State Museum in Innsbruck, Austria.^[7][19] In this exhibitions they presented the historical collection of Albert Joseph Gasteiger of Qajar art, as well as Iranian masters including Parviz Tanavoli, Jazeh Tabatabai, Reza Bangiz, Farah Ossouli, Nargess Hashemi, Mazdak Ayari, and Khosrow Sinai.^[7][19] Rafiee co-curated the exhibition, and co-authored the 2020 exhibition book under the same title.

In 2008, she co-founded Bread & Salt Projects, a curatorial project as well as an extended archive and collection of Iranian Modern and Contemporary art in order to preserve the documents of the Iranian modern and contemporary art.

Rafiee has been invited to give lectures or participate in panel discussions about the Iranian modern and contemporary art by the British Museum, Iran Heritage Foundation, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

She often has worked alongside her spouse Yashar Samimi Mofakham.^[20][2]

• Selfdom / a personal project, 2011, with Yashar Samimi Mofakham, Tehran, Iran^{[citation needed]}
• Tehran Calling: London, 2013, with Yashar Samimi Mofakham, LPS, London, UK^[21]
• Parviz Tanavoli’s Exercise Writing: 50 years of Iranian Pop Art, 2016, with Yashar Samimi Mofakham, Shahrivar Gallery, Tehran, Iran^[22]
• Parviz Tanavoli’s Universal Icons: 50 years of Iranian Pop Art, 2016, With Yashar Samimi Mofakham, Shahrivar Gallery, Tehran, Iran^[22]
• RTL:LTR, an exchange exhibition between Iran and Austria (right to left, left to right), with Yashar Samimi Mofakham, Peter Assmann, and CO:K; traveling exhibit to Galerie Forum in Wels, Austria, 2016; Artmark Galerie in Wien, Austria, 2016; the Lajevardi Foundation, in Tehran, Iran, 2016; and Isfahan Museum of Contemporary Art, in Iran, 2016–2017^[23]
• Good Morning... Good Night. Cinque artiste e una curatrice dall'Iran (English:Good Morning... Good Night. Five artists and a curator from Iran), 2018, Castello Di Moferrato, Casale Monferrato, Italy^[24]
• Good Morning... Good Night. Cinque artiste e una curatrice dall'Iran (English:Good Morning... Good Night. Five artists and a curator from Iran), 2018, Palazzo Ducale di Mantova, Mantova, Italy^[16]
• IRAN Print -01, 2019, Meem Gallery, Dubai, UAE^[25]
• Solace of Lovers: Trost Der Liebenden, 2020–2021, Tyrolean State Museum, Innsbruck, Austria^[7]

• Rafiee, Tarlan (2018). Good morning... Good night. Cinque artiste e una curatrice, Italy, Tre Lune Edizioni, ISBN 9788889832813.
• Mofakham, Yashar Samimi; Rafiee, Tarlan; Assmann, Peter; Pereña, Helena (2020). Solace of Lovers: Trost Der Liebenden. Innsbruck, Austria: Haymon Verlag, Tiroler Landesmuseen Betriebsgesellschaft m.b.H. ISBN 978-3-7099-8119-1.

• Golestaneh, Ali (2012). Tehran Art: A Popular Revolution. Contemporary Art Publications. ISBN 9789948164746.
• Noyce, Richard (2014). Printmaking Off the Beaten Track. Bloomsbury Visual Arts. ISBN 978-1408156728.
• Porter, Venetia (2016). Iranian Voices Catalogue. British Museum.
• Porter, Venetia; Tripp, Charles; Morris, Natasha (2020). Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa. British Museum. ISBN 978-0714111957.