Now instead of the United States imitating Eurocentric practices, it was the Windy City that many look to for inspiration.

Suzanne Valadon wore many hats during her time spent in the Parisian elite art scene. She is remembered as a model, painter, lover, mother, innovator, and more. Her amassed array of diverse experiences enabled her to shatter basic gender norms for women in art while also increasing female engagement with society’s art scene.

During this day and age, it is intimidating to pursue Art History as a degree if you are more business-oriented than research focused. Just as all art-oriented majors, I was constantly prodded by parents and peers for my career plan. How could I support myself? How could I translate my passions into a profession?

I walked into the room where there was a beam on the ceiling connecting two walls. The beam had five metal hooks, spaced equally apart, each hanging down above the blood-stained, cement floor. I vividly remember I was wearing a white dress, a white sweater, and black patent leather shoes. I looked up and tried to imagine my great-grandfather, neck broken, hanging from one of the hooks.

Shadi Ghadirian, a Tehranian born and raised artist, targets a variety of crucial issues including gender inequality and the faults of Western ethnocentrism in her constructed images which challenge the relationship between Islamic and Western worlds more effectively than any other contemporary artist.