About

An Iranian Azerbaijani-American woman, Laleh Motlagh delves into profound explorations of love and intimacy, resilience and care, religion and spirituality, while remaining deeply connected to her surroundings and localities. Based in Chicago, Motlagh confronts sociocultural alienation and navigates the complexities of a multicultural identity. Her practice is rooted in investigating oppressive personal histories and questioning the very nature of being. She embodies the untold, invisible, and silenced to confront larger social issues. Often collaborative with other-than-human, she employs drawing, painting, sculpture, performance, video, and installation to examine the boundaries between human and natural life, the admissible and the taboo, as well as the geopolitical overtones found so prevalently in the discourse of border zones and notions of belonging.

Laleh Motlagh لاله مطلق (b. Tabriz, Iran) is a Chicago-based artist and educator. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions at institutions such as Museo Universitario del Chopo (Mexico City, Mexico), EXPO (Chicago, USA), Logan Center for the Arts (Chicago, USA), Chicago Artist Coalition (Chicago, USA), KHB Studios (Berlin, Germany), NAHR (Sotechiesta, Italy), Teufelsberg (Berlin, Germany), Gallery 400 (Chicago, USA), Sarv Gallery (Tehran, Iran), Farhang Gallery (Tabriz, Iran) among others. She has received multiple awards and recognitions including Individual Artists Program grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, Newcity’s Breakout Artist, U.S. Fulbright Independent Artist Research grant, Provost’s Award for Graduate Research, and more. Motlagh received her MFA from the University of Illinois Chicago.

Full CV is available upon request.