Leila Mesdaghi
  • About
    • statement / bio / cv
  • Work
    • Drawing /Paintings >
      • A and A'
      • Another Beautiful Day
      • Between Air and Water
      • Between Head and Heart
      • Between Water and Mist
      • Between The Flesh
      • God's Love
      • Gut and Heart Gushing
      • Injustice
      • Lee and I
      • Love Cannot Alter It
      • Nonobjective
      • Self-Healing
      • The Persistence of X
      • The Sisters
      • The Tongue
    • Performance >
      • Barzakh
      • Gratitude
      • Healing of The Heart
      • I Am Sorry for What I Said
      • Privilege of Removal
      • Privilege of Removal/ Screenshots
      • Unspoken Words
    • Performance/ Video >
      • Aah
      • A Love Letter to Safayar
      • Bunche Beach
      • Deeper Than Sorrow
      • For You I Will Die
      • Gratitude/ Video
      • Home vs. Home
      • I Am Sorry for What I Said/ Video
      • I'm Waiting : Love/ Dread
      • Khoda, Khod'a: God, Self awareness/ Video
      • My Beautiful Beard
      • Privilege of Removal
      • Shokhm
      • When The Clouds Cry
      • 126 Seconds
    • Mixed Media >
      • All Dipped In Warm Honey
      • "A Stand of Aspen in December"
      • Bloody Days
      • Iceland
      • Loud Silence
      • Love/ Dread
      • One-way Ticket
    • Sculpture >
      • Breaking a Habit
      • Cavity
      • Foreclosures
  • Contact

Artist Statement

​As an artist I have a hard time defining my art which comes from refusing to define myself. I spend a great time thinking and obsessing about relationships and how they touch my/our physical realities. I investigate my self-made illusions and emotions and find tangible ways to get to know them and to relate to them. I welcome memories and feelings related to guilt, regret, love, and despair as personal and universal emotions. I enjoy those (fake) hopeless moments of devastation in my process and that’s when I become eager in finding solutions and resolving problems. I make art to take control, to find refuge, and to seek comfort. I have been seduced by many different mediums and interdisciplinary approaches in making art. I merge performance, video, sound, and installation to create multi-sensory experiences. Sometimes my body, my voice, and my strengths become my medium. From capturing a sigh, telling a secret, stealing someone else’s memory and making it my own, writing unreadable letters, to entering an empty pool and filling it with words and poems to recuperate the pain of separation, I choose the medium that could best capture the essence of my intentions. 


Education 
​

Florida Gulf Coast University, Bachelor of Fine Arts

Islamic Azad University of Tehran, Bachelor of Law
​

Selected Exhibitions and collaborations 
​

 2020
Love Cannot Alter it, Solo exhibition, Cape Coral Art Studios, Cape Coral, FL.

2017 

20/20: An Alumni Exhibition Celebrating FGCU’s 20th Anniversary, Wasmer Art Gallery, Fort Myers, FL.
Peace on Paper Contemporary Art Biennale in Iran Curated by: Majid Abbasi Farahani. Contemporary Arts Museum Isfahan, Iran.
Amalgamation: a student exhibition Guest artist at Florida Southwestern State College. Ft Myers, FL.

2016  
The Chicken Play  Ghostbird Theater Company
Peace on Paper Contemporary Art Biennale in Iran. Co-Curated by: Majid Abbasi Farahani , Shadi Noyani. Abadan Contemporary Art Museum. Abadan, Iran.
Peace on Paper Iran's 2nd Contemporary Art Biennale in Tehran. Curated by: Majid Abbasi Farahani . Niyavaran Cultural Center. Tehran, Iran.
Symbiotic: Malerba/ Mesdaghi In collaboration with Artis Mariapia Malerba
126 Seconds Short Film, in collaboration with Artist  Mariapia Malerba. TGIM: The Fort Myers Film Festival.                     
Ask Me Anything Performance. In collaboration with Dr. Billy Huff, and Artist Rachel Bass. Sidney and Bern Davis Art Center, Ft Myers, FL.
Notes: Monetary, Handwritten, Musical Annual Juried Exhibition at Sidney and Bern Davis Art Center.
Quest For Permanence Group Exhibition Co-Curated by Barry Cavin, John Loscuito, and Michael Salmond. Florida Gulf Coast University Main Gallery. Ft Myers, FL.
Privilege of Removal: A Senior Project  Florida Gulf Coast University Senior Project. Co- Curated by John Loscuito and Michael Salmond.
Art in Flight: 10 Year Anniversary Group Exhibition. Fort Myers International Airport.

2015  
Broadsides: Poetry Off The Shelves 2015 Selected artists and Poets. Alliance for the Arts. Fort Myers, FL.
17th Annual Juried Student Exhibition jurors: Veron  Ennis, Barbara Hill and Dana Roes. Florida Gulf Coast University Main Gallery, Ft Myers, FL.
Printmaking  National Juried Exhibition at Alliance for The Arts. Fort Myers, FL.

2014  
I Am Sorry For What I Said  Performance, Sidney and Bern Davis Art Center. Ft Myers, FL.
16th Annual Juried Exhibition at Florida Gulf Coast University Main Gallery. Fort Myers, FL.
Ferðalag (a Trip, Journey or Voyage) Lacoste, Charles, Mesdaghi. Bob Rauschenberg Gallery. Fort Myers, FL.
28th Annual All Florida Juried Exhibition, Alliance forThe Arts, Fort Myers, FL.

2013  
Unspoken Words Performance, Sidney and Bern Davis Art Center, Fort Myers, FL.
Price and Promise of Progress Florida Southwestern State College. Ft Myers, FL.
Rejectamenta Group Exhibition, Alliance for The Arts, Fort Myers, FL.
Injustice Group Exhibition, FSW, Fort Myers, Florida.
27th Annual All Florida Juried Exhibition, Alliance for The Arts, Fort Myers, FL.

2012  
It’s Raining Art Annual Juried Exhibition at Sidney and Bern Davis Art Center, Fort Myers, FL.
State of Mind Politics: 2012 , Alliance for The Arts, Fort Myers, FL.
Social Injustice, Florida Southwestern State College. Fort Myers, FL.


Awards and Grants 

2020  Southwest Florida Community Foundation Arts and Culture Grant.
2019  Southwest Florida Community Foundation Arts and Culture Grant.

2016  SunPeaks Center For The Arts and Sustainability Artist Residency Grant, Colorado Springs, CO.
2016  Overall Best Of Show Annual Juried Exhibition at Sidney and Bern Davis Art Center “Notes: Monetary, Handwritten, Musical"
2016   Senior Project Art History Research Award at Florida Gulf Coast University 
2016   Southwest Florida Fine Craft Guild Awards of Excellence
2015   Florida Gulf Coast University “17th Annual Juried Student Exhibition” College of Arts and Sciences Dean’s Awaed.    
2015   24 Hours    Festival, Florida Gulf Coast University, Visual Arts Exhibition Award
2015   Marvin and Helene Gralnick Scholarship 
2014   24 Hours Festival Florida Gulf Coast University, Visual Arts Scholarship Award
2014   Greater Fort Myers Women in Business Scholarship
2014  FSW Honors Research Scholarship in conjunction with Yoko Ono’s “Imagine Peace” exhibition at the BoB Rauschenberg Gallery
2014   Bob Rauschenberg Gallery Scholarship 
2013   FSW Fine Art Scholarship
2013   Florida Southwestern State College of Humanities Award for Excellence in Fine Arts
2013   Florida Southwestern State College Juried Student Art Exhibition Honorable Mention
2012   24 Hours Festival Florida Southwestern State College, Best of Show in Visual Arts Award


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