Fatemeh Burnes, F.B Projects

About the artist

Artist Statement As a painter and photographer, I examine modern events and tragedies — both ecological and social — and their manifestations in contemporary life. My work engages themes of displacement and hierarchical social structures through the interplay of contradictory elements. It is guided by a sustained engagement with the force of nature and the histories that shape us. In my creative process, I move through subconscious associations, where perceptually recognizable and indeterminate forms coexist within surreal spaces. I use materials playfully and symbolically, layering to construct and deconstruct, conceal and reveal, compressing time, shifting space, and transforming language. The resulting visual poems hold intermingling opposites — order and chaos, reality and fantasy — striving for parity and exploring their interchangeability. My painting and photographic series often mirror each other in structural complexity and in approach to layering. Expanding beyond my traditional darkroom training, I employ in-camera and digital techniques — multiple exposure, scanning, light manipulation, and digital editing — to fabricate compositions through layered installations and constructed environments. In both painting and photography, grids recur in certain series, situating individual pieces within a larger conceptual whole. The process of exploration is often more compelling than any resolution. My practice investigates phenomena in the external world, in dreams, in thought, or in something as tangible and quiet as a stone resting on the ground. Fatemeh Burnes is an Iranian American visual artist, curator, educator, and activist based in Los Angeles. She exhibits nationally and internationally, and her work has been featured in Hyperallergic, Artillery Magazine, Art Ltd, LA Weekly, Artweek LA, ArtDaily New York, and ArtNet News, among others. Her practice explores nature and human nature through the lens of contemporary events, with recent work taking an autobiographical turn, addressing immigration, identity, and the experience of being a woman. Since 1992, she has curated over 100 exhibitions and has been actively engaged in arts advocacy. Burnes is the founder or co-founder of Artist on the Bridge, XXLA, and the UOOORS Collective, and is a member of TSA LA (Tiger Strikes Asteroid Los Angeles).