Drawn from the Mohammed Afkhami collection, “Rebel, Jester, Mystic, Poet: Contemporary Persians” presents works by more than twenty artists from Iran and its diaspora.

Araya Rasdjarmrearnsook’s practice addresses the dichotomies of life and death, the search for autonomy within cultural constraints, and notions of identity and difference examined through class hierarchies and regional idiosyncrasies.

Rahraw Omarzad’s video depicts a woman sequestered in a windowless space. Her struggle with the restricting barriers of a black cloth and her chadri (or burqa) reflects the crippling effects a dictatorial regime has on the psyche.