Roya Movafegh

Roya Movafegh is a multi-media artist. Her work explores the dynamics of assimilation as well as the multiple facets of cultural identity. From an early age, she came to know first hand what it meant to be a person on the run, a foreigner, a refugee, and an immigrant. Born in Austria to Iranian parents, she later moved to her native country only to escape it five years later due to the heavy persecutions her family faced as Baha’is.

After living in Germany, the United States, and Canada, she moved to Harlem, NY in 1998 where she founded the group The Young Harlem Photographers, a photography workshop for children and youth. Their work won them the NY Times award at the Art of Change Group Show held at the Time Square Lobby Gallery.

Her more recent photo publication is Wishes in Black and White, a book about race relations in America which was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show.

She has devoted much of her work to children by reintroducing the role of the arts as a tool to awaken the human spirit and as a means to raise social awareness. She is the co-founder of The Children’s Theatre Company of New York, which has been featured on Good Morning America, CNN, NY1 Parenting Report, and has performed at the United Nations’ Special Session on Children with Nelson Mandela.

Roya is the founder of Nobility Within, dedicated to endeavors that highlight the inherent nobility of us all. One of its programs, Noble-icious! is a program where children explore and polish their spiritual qualities, learn about each other, and support one another in becoming agents of change in the world they are inheriting.

Her latest project is the completion of her novel The People with No Camel, which weaves two journeys of freedom: a ten year old girl escapes Iran in 1981 and a woman’s quest to save her dying forest turns into her own spiritual journey — the search for ultimate freedom.

CONCERNING CHANGE

Art has played a powerful role in bringing about awareness, consciousness, and change. I am most intrigued by the relationship between the artist and their expression of art. At what point does change take place? Does it occur when the artist first asks their questions? Examines concepts old and new? How does one become free of one’s own judgments and limitations which can act as a barrier to exploring deeper dimensions? When I have been most impacted by a work of art is when the artist has become one with the journey of search, empty of their baggage, shown humility and trust in the process, and open to becoming a clear channel through which a higher consciousness can find expression.

Another source of inspiration for me has been to learn though collaborative work with other artists and community based organizations who work as agents of change – whose works aim to elevate the human spirit and who assist in shifting our perceptions, no matter how subtle or unnoticeable the effects might be at first.

CONTRIBUTING TO CHANGE

• Them=Us, Traveling Exhibition in Canada
• Disintegration, a photo installation
• The Orange Tree, a photo installation
• Heart of Harlem & The Young Harlem Photographers
• Wishes in Black and White
• The Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) – Art By Children For Grown Ups
• Nobility Within & Noble-iscious!

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE ARTIST

www.royamovafegh.com