Cambridge gallery picks UMass Dartmouth art student for solo exhibition

One UMass Dartmouth art student is getting a new achievement under her belt, after her paintings will be shown in the artist’s first solo exhibition at Gallery 263 in Cambridge.

From January 14 through February 13, the gallery will show Shabnam Jannesari’s The Carpet Grew Like a Garden, a series of large-scale paintings illuminating the life the artist left behind in Iran.

Jannesari’s work was chosen through a competitive jury process as part of the gallery’s Exhibition Proposal Series.

The Carpet Grew Like a Garden explores the censorship of Iranian women through the lens of personal experiences, with life-size figures — Jannesari’s friends and family, and a few self portraits — painted in oils and ink.

The figures occupy an ideal, secret, and supportive space imagined by the artist, with Persian carpets adding warm colors and elaborate patterns that act as a bridge between elements.

By reinventing and creating imaginary spaces with her intense palettes, Jannesari constructs an abstracted and highly emotive world. 

An Iranian artist with a BFA in painting from the University of Guilan, Iran, Jannesari is an MFA candidate at UMass Dartmouth. She is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant and has exhibited her work in Iran, England, and the United States. 

Gallery 263 is open Wednesday through Friday from 4 to 7 p.m. and Saturday 1-4 p.m. 

To learn more about the artist or her work, visit her website at shbnmjannesari2.wixsite.com/portfolio.