Portrait of the Artist as a Young Rebel is a reflection on the coming of consciousness of the artist. The absurd images of myself as a baby with weapons and guerrilla masks, becomes almost a real documentation of my childhood. These images blend in with photographs and films often seen in various media of people in political/national/ cultural struggles. With current technology, there is always a questioning of the levels of reality but even of the absurdity of the reality itself.

Performed in multiple countries, Jokes on Me/Stupid Muslim Joke, is an interactive public performance, to confront the personal and collective perception of Muslims, as a cultural group and as individuals. I researched jokes spread on the web about “Stupid Muslims”, mostly written in the UK, US and Denmark. The jokes are on stickers all over my body and I ask people to read the jokes and write a response directly onto my body as the site of the contested intelligence and the target of aggression.

“Throughout my career as an artist and an educator in the Los Angeles area and internationally for the past 20 years, my work has consistently explored and upheld the cultural resistance and survival of people, particularly women or femme identified individuals, living in situations of poverty, conflict, and war. I am drawn to the aesthetics of Islamic Art as rooted in devotion and love through resistance, rebellion against unjust authoritarianism and personal sacrifice but also media and contemporary imagery which has derailed the international perception of these messages.”
- Amitis Motevalli

LENSCRATCH review by Paloma Jimenez

BOULDER WEEKLY review by Jezy Gray

Artist website: amitismotevalli.com