Siah Armajani

Siah Armajani is an Iranian-born sculptor who creates large-scale, architectural sculptures, but is perhaps most wildly known for designing the 1996 Olympic torch, which was relayed across the United States in advance of the Atlanta games. Armajani emigrated from Iran to the United States in 1960 following an anti-democratic movement in his home country. As a palpable result of his displacement, subjects relating to American history, democracy, politics, and great philosophers, Ralph Waldo Emerson in particular, became deep-seated influences on his early artistic practice, often manifesting in marked utopian themes. Armajani works with a variety of mediums, and in addition to his monumental sculptures and public commissions, he has also developed a small-scale practice of intimate drawings, prints, and works on paper. 

Since the 2000s, Armajani has shifted his focus from American themes to issues more closely related to Iran and current global affairs. His 2009 sculpture Murder in Tehran, for instance, is a tribute to Neda Agha-Soltan, a young activist who was killed during protests prompted that year by the election of Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. This imposing, moving work is comprised of a cage-like box made of glass and wood, and it contains dismembered hands, topped by a bloodstained figure. 

Armajani’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, the Santa Fe Art Institute, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, Museu D’Art Contemporani in Barcelona, Geneva’s Musee d’Art Moderne et Contemporain, and New York’s Swiss Institute, among others. Armajani has been included in countless group exhibitions throughout the world and has also created notable public commissions, including bridges, public reading rooms and poetry gardens. In 2010, Armajani was awarded the Chevalier de l’Ordre des Artes et des Lettres by the French government and the Distinguished Artist Award by the McKnight Foundation.