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MY MIND IN BLOOM

Cima Khademi, 
Nina Nabizadeh, 
Leila Rahnamanoabadi, + Yasamin Zamanieh

SEPT 12 - OCT 5
Opening Reception
Sept 12, 5-7pm



Stories once lived become reflections that bloom into new meaning


MY MIND IN BLOOM invites viewers to consider how identity is shaped, not as something fixed, but as something always unfolding. Through the work of four Iranian artists Nina Nabizadeh, Cima Khademi, Yasamin Zamanieh, and Leila Rahnamaabadi, the exhibition explores what we carry with us: objects, memories, and emotions that take root and grow, even in unfamiliar soil. It is a human need to make sense of where
we come from and where we are going.

Each piece speaks to the ways we hold onto the past as we change. Stories once lived become reflections that bloom into new meaning. The presence of Iran is never far. It is
woven into our daily lives, in our thoughts and emotions. The complexities of belonging to a place from afar brings the warmth of memory and the pull of distance. This inner tension is simultaneously grounding and disorienting. It quietly shapes the work in seen and unseen ways. To remember affects how we move through the world, and how we
create. To belong, while carrying our unique experiences requires an opening, an invitation which we share with you in this exhibition. 




CIMA KHADEMI is a visual artist based between Birmingham, Alabama, and Western Massachusetts. Working primarily in sculpture and installation, her practice explores themes of identity, displacement, and the reclamation of space. She holds an MFA in Studio Arts from UMass Amherst and a BFA in Painting from the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Khademi’s work focuses on the unique experience of identity as an immigrant. The particular state where identity and homeland are called into question
and we find ourselves simultaneously standing on the threshold of two worlds. Her creative practice emerges from the dissonance of claiming cultural ties to two nations frequently positioned as adversaries. Her work is an exploration of balance in a
diasporic space regarding class, gender, and ethnicity through materials and metaphors.

Tiles in Menthol serves as an entry point into Cima Khademi’s exploration of cultural memory, and reclamation. Created from cigarette cartons sourced from her family’s convenience store in Bessemer, Alabama, the piece mimics the intricate geometry of Iranian tilework, transforming disposable materials into ornamental structures. Drawing on the concept of the “middleman minority,” Khademi reflects on her parents’ experience as immigrants caught between economic precarity and limited access to
mainstream labor markets. Menthol cigarette cartons, once the store’s most profitable yet most harmful product, are reimagined as decorative elements found in Islamic architecture, such as mosaics and ceramic tiles. Their glossy greens and blues echo the sacred tilework of Iranian mosques and palaces, creating a tension between beauty and harm, survival and critique. Often installed along corners or stretching across walls, the
piece invites viewers to walk alongside it, mirroring the way one might move through a mosque or palace, guided by pattern and memory from one space to another.LEILA RAHNAMANOABADI (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist, educator, and researcher working at the intersection of art and education. Her practice involves collaboration with children, caregivers, teachers, and communities to explore themes of social justice,
identity, and resistance.

Leila works across mediums, including textiles, performance, installation, and video, drawing from both Iranian and American contexts. She uses art as a tool for dialogue and connection, often creating participatory projects that invite others to reflect, share, and imagine new possibilities.

Her work is informed by her background in community-based education and a
commitment to making art accessible, relevant, and responsive to the world around her.NINA NABIZADEH is a first generation Iranian American. They graduated from Marlboro College with a BA in Fine Arts and a MA of Art Education from Umass Amherst. They currently live in southern Vermont where they teach Elementary Art and practice functional ceramics.

How do you tell a story in fragments, sliced up by template with arches and curves that hold flashes of life gone by? I am inspired by factors, pieces that pull together a life; addiction, poverty, and what remains. Narratives are stories we tell ourselves to make sense of our lives. But what if you didn’t have a coherent thread? What if life came to you in broken pieces? My work hopes to rearrange and kerplunk these images in a spider's web. We exist, and are seen within and out of context.

In a small village Northwest in Iran there's a tea farm. My mother and grandmother worked this land. On the edge of the farm there's a steep hill that winds into a dark lush forest. The light that pulsates and falls through the eaves belongs to my ancestors. Craft
is a blood line in Iran that spans through the ancient Persian empire connecting it to the rest of the world. Craft encapsulates commerce, prayer, practice, and storytelling while
clay holds memory, both physically and figuratively.

Islamic Geometry seeks to create shapes born from mathematical equations. The artisans who created tiles for mosques were nearing god in their razor precision. I am of
Allah, nay my skill does not reach the razor's edge. In our American culture that coddles white supremacy, perfection becomes a disease punishing all. I embrace the crooked
line and the bent out foot; they have something to teach me.YASAMIN ZAMANIEH is an interdisciplinary artist working across illustration, painting, animation, and interactive installations. Her art explores human struggle and resistance, focusing on themes like gender, class, and political issues. As an Iranian woman shaped by major political events, Yasamin’s identity is closely tied to her creative work. She revisits moments of conflict in history, using new media and interactive tools to
expose political violence. Through her art, Yasamin invites viewers to reflect on social injustice and asks: What is the moral response to deep and ongoing problems like gender and class inequality?

A.P.E.'s programming is made possible in part by sustained support from the Massachusetts Cultural Council and The Community Foundation of Western Massachusetts.