Farima Fooladi was born in Tehran, Iran, during the political transition from monarchy to the Islamic Republic and theocracy. She is currently based in Houston, TX, and is a practicing artist and educator. 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.
Fooladi completed her MFA at Penn State University, where she also taught before relocating to Houston.
Fooladi was awarded a prestigious MacDowell Fellowship for the 2024-2025 winter cycle, further supporting her in creating new work. She also received the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant for June 2023 to June 2024, enabling her to expand her studio practice further. In her work, Fooladi delves into urban life and the experience of marginalized citizens, asking essential questions about diversity and hospitality in urban spaces. She explores how identity survives and transforms in the face of constant reinvention, with a particular interest in how social and political upheavals reshape both public and private spaces.
In 2020, Fooladi’s painting “Mirage” was purchased with the support of the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs (MOCA) for Houston Airports, which now resides as part of the Civic Art Collection. Her practice examines the lasting impacts of collective trauma caused by invasion, migration, and displacement. She is particularly fascinated by how civic spaces are altered through these physical and emotional events.
Fooladi’s work has gained significant recognition in the art world. Her eighth solo show opened on January 15, 2022, at Smack Mellon in Dumbo, Brooklyn, NY. The exhibition attracted critical attention, leading to an interview with the BBC. Her paintings have also been featured in New American Paintings, No. 162, further cementing her presence in the contemporary art scene.
In 2023, Fooladi was nominated and selected as an artist-in-residence for the fourth iteration of Artists on Site at the Asia Society, Houston, where she explored themes of identity, migration, and space in more depth.
Fooladi’s solo exhibition is coming up at the Lawndale Art Center in Houston in the Spring of 2025. In it, she will continue to explore the interplay between architecture, memory, and displacement through a series of large-scale landscape paintings and installations. Her work continues to push boundaries, creating immersive experiences that invite viewers to reflect on the spaces they inhabit, both physically and emotionally.