Events

As part of the 2025-26 UNC-CH CMEIS Annual Lecture Series, artist Maryam Safajoo will speak about her exhibition, My Bitter Childhood Window. The exhibition will be on display from August 8 to September 25, open on weekdays from 7:30AM-7:30PM in the FedEx Global Education Center atrium. A reception will be held on September 25 to mark the closing of the exhibition.

About the exhibition: My Bitter Childhood Window presents a series of miniature oil paintings that narrate true stories of persecution, resilience, and identity, drawn from the lived experiences of the Baháʼís of Iran following the 1979 revolution—a community consistently targeted by Iran’s security apparatus. Each piece is grounded in qualitative interviews, archival records, and historical memory, transforming personal testimony into intimate visual narratives. The scale of the works invites viewers to lean in and engage closely—an act of bearing witness. The selected pieces explore themes of cultural erasure, injustice, and spiritual endurance. They were chosen for their ability to collectively convey both the pain of systemic oppression and the quiet strength of perseverance. Through this body of work, I aim to honor the stories entrusted to me while creating space for broader dialogue on human rights and cultural survival.

About the artist: A 2025 Guggenheim Fellow, Maryam Safajoo is a Persian American artist whose work centers on memory, resilience, and justice. Through miniature oil paintings on linen, she documents the persecution of the Bahá’í community in Iran following the 1979 revolution—stories often silenced or erased. Drawing from personal and collective experience, Maryam reconstructs these histories with meticulous detail, preserving voices denied representation. Having lived through this oppression herself, she recalls the day government forces raided her home and imprisoned her father. Her younger sister was later denied education and placed in solitary confinement. These are not isolated events—they reflect a broader reality of systemic discrimination. Maryam’s process involves interviews, archival research, and lived memory. Her subjects often reenact real stories, transforming oral histories into visual records. Deeply influenced by her mother, a former prisoner of conscience, and others executed for their beliefs, Maryam’s art is a form of witness and resistance. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Nobel Prize Museum; and the Crocker Art Museum, among others. Through global exhibitions and press, she sparks conversations about justice and human dignity.