Mokarrameh Ghanbari was a self-taught painter whose extraordinary vision emerged from the heart of northern Iran, where she lived her entire life in the village of Darikhaneh in Mazandaran Province. Born in 1928, Ghanbari had no formal training in art. Her creative journey began late in life, at the age of 63, when she spontaneously began to paint using natural dyes, discarded objects, and eventually poster paints—whatever materials she could find around her rural home. What followed was a luminous, deeply personal body of work that would position her as one of Iran’s most compelling outsider artists.
Ghanbari’s art defies conventional categories. Her vibrant, narrative compositions blend memory and folklore, the everyday and the mystical. Often featuring bold portraits of women, mythic figures, animals, and village scenes, her paintings are imbued with a sense of storytelling and dreamlike symbolism. The expressive power of her work lies not only in its striking color palettes and intricate detail but also in the emotional authenticity of its themes—loss, joy, resilience, and feminine strength.
Despite beginning her career in obscurity, Ghanbari’s work quickly attracted national and international attention. Her paintings were first exhibited publicly in 1995 at the Seyhoun Gallery in Tehran, launching a period of growing recognition. In 2001, UNESCO named her “Female Painter of the Year,” and she went on to exhibit in Germany, Switzerland, and France. Yet, Ghanbari remained rooted in her village, where she continued to paint until her death in 2005. Her house has since been preserved as a museum dedicated to her legacy.
Ghanbari’s practice stands as a radiant testament to the irrepressible nature of creativity. With no academic training or exposure to the global art world, she produced a visual language entirely her own—simultaneously vernacular and universal, intimate and archetypal. This exhibition honors Mokarrameh Ghanbari not only as a painter of rare vision, but as a cultural icon whose work continues to resonate far beyond the borders of her birthplace.
