Artist Profiles | Parastou Forouhar

Parastou Forouhar was born in Teheran in 1962. She studied art at the University of Teheran from 1984 to 1990 then continued her studies at the Hochschule für Gestaltung (High School for Design) in Offenbach am Main in Germany. Together with 11 other artists in 1995, she started the project Fahrradhalle (Bicycle Hall), to share inspiration and to find various venues for exhibitions. She takes part in women's projects, lives with her two children in Frankfurt and appeared in the film 'Superwoman oder was', in which the Frankfurt film-maker Anja Czioska portrayed three women managing to live in their own ways with more children than money.

Over the years Parastou has exhibited internationally on many occasions, most recently alongside Tracy Emin as part of the Global Feminisms exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum in March 2007.

Parastou Forouhar's parents were murdered in Iran in November 1998. In her quest for clarification she has since flown to Iran 8 times, questioned functionaries in the ministries responsible, held press conferences and written letters to human rights organisations and politicians. There has still been no clarification. Many of her works express her critical attitude towards the situation in Iran and Islamic Fundamentalism.

www.parastou-forouhar.de