Michelle Emami
Art Leader • (She/her)
As a biracial woman of color, born in Southern California, Michelle Emami is constantly questioned the lack of security that both her cultural backgrounds hold within American Culture. But as a young girl her passion for the arts was the one means of stability within her internal struggles of how to identify herself. In 2020, she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at California State University – Fullerton with an emphasis in Painting and Drawing in 2020. Shortly after that, she had obtained her Master of Fine Arts Degree at Claremont Graduate University in 2022. She pushed the boundaries of her work by fusing her two cultural backgrounds through the use of repetition, pattern, and design. Her constant need to fully represent both her Mexican and Iranian cultures while also addressing the hateful and degrading comments about not being a true American is the reason why she focuses her work on the beauty rather than ugliness. By fusing her cultural backgrounds together rather than compartmentalizing them, she is able to fully accept and rightfully reclaim her own cultural standing by dismantling the unrealistic standards through her work.
