Labkhand Olfatmanesh born in Tehran, Iran, and Los Angeles-based multidisciplinary artist examining themes of feminism, race, isolation and borders in underrepresented communities. She blends fictionalized narratives with documentary techniques, portraiture, and social practice to explore intimacy, humor, psychology and transitory states that bridge one identity with another and how these forces take shape in the United States and her birthplace of Iran.
Labkhand has been exhibited across the US and internationally, including; Photo London U.K.; Rencontres d’Arles, France; Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles; Helm Bakery District in collaboration with the Culver City Arts Foundation; the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery; and the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco ; Jamaica Center of Art & Learning, NY ;CICA Museum, South Korea ; 2020 Feminist Border Arts Film Festival, NMSU ;4Culture, Seattle, WA ; The Glass Box Gallery at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
She was also awarded the LensCulture Portrait Awards Jurors’ Pick and received first place at the Los Angeles Center of Photography’s second annual fine art photo competition; second place CAFAM & Farhang Foundation (Focus Iran 3); Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grantee, NYC.
Her work has also been featured by the United Nations, the British Council, and Australian High Commission and in the UNESCO Palace, Lebanon. She is currently a board member at Level Ground organization; Artist in residence in Side street project based on Pasadena and 2021 Active Innovator Leadership program at Art for LA.
