New Faculty Member Q&A: Farima Fooladi
Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing Farima Fooladi was born in Tehran, Iran, during the political transition from monarchy to Islamic Republic and theocracy. Her upbringing in post-revolutionary Iran profoundly shaped her artistic approach, particularly her exploration of displacement, memory and the transformation of civic spaces due to social and political shifts. She is the recipient of the 2024-2025 MacDowell Fellowship, Lawndale’s 2024 award for The Big Show and the 2023-2024 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant. Fooladi was a 2023 Artists on Site resident at the Asia Society, where she explored the interplay between architecture, memory, and politic of a space. She taught most recently at the University of Houston and Lone Star College, and she holds an M.F.A. from Penn State University.
Tell us about the classes you'll be teaching this year.
I will be teaching Advanced Life Drawing in the fall of 2025.
What attracted you to the Department of Art and Art History and The University of Texas at Austin?
Living in the Houston Metropolitan area for the last seven years, I have been fortunate enough to meet UT Austin's excellent faculty and alums. UT's reputation in art and its status as a research institute are significant attractions for me. Studying and working at Penn State University, I am familiar with the exceptional resources and support that a research institute can provide. Narratives embedded in history, literature, and other forms of art inspire me and my work. Being surrounded by brilliant minds in various fields and having the privilege of collaborating with them is a significant motivator for me.
How did your professional pathway lead to your current artistic focus?
My art is about life and, most importantly, my personal experiences; it reflects my circumstances. The life I lived while growing up in Tehran, Iran, and after I moved to the U.S. led me to my current focus. My work emerges from the intersection of personal memory and collective histories, exploring themes of displacement and the transformation of architectural spaces. Nature and architecture, the two most vivid imageries in my memory, shaped my character as an artist.
What's something that students and colleagues should know about you?
We will get to know each other best over time through shared work and conversation.
What do you enjoy doing when you're not teaching/in the studio/working?
My new obsession is yoga. I also love playing tennis and trail jogging. I enjoy cooking, and baking sourdough bread has recently become a new addition to this list.