Pooneh Jafari-Nejad is an Iranian painter, curator, and cultural organizer, born in Tehran in 1971. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Painting from Islamic Azad University, a bachelor’s degree in Painting from Islamic Azad University in Tehran, and a bachelor’s degree in Textile and Fashion Design from Alzahra University.

Throughout her career, Jafari-Nejad has been actively involved in Iran’s contemporary art scene as an artist, curator, gallery director, and supporter of charitable cultural initiatives. In 2001, she founded Pooneh Art Gallery and has since directed its artistic programs. She was also a founding board member and managing director of the Hooman Charity Foundation, an organization supporting artists affected by cancer.

In 2006, she served as artistic director and organizer of the First International Painting Symposium at the Imam Ali Museum in Tehran. She also worked as an artistic advisor to a festival organized in cooperation with Rolex at Sa’dabad Palace in Tehran.

In 2016, she curated and organized the First Kashan Painting Symposium at Morshedi House. The following year, she served as curator and artistic advisor for a painting exhibition and workshop held at the Bonnefanten Museum and the PAM Museum in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Since the early 1990s, Jafari-Nejad has supported and collaborated with several nonprofit organizations, including Mahak, Behnam Daheshpour, the MS Society of Iran, and the Kahrizak Charity Foundation.

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

Jafari-Nejad has presented solo exhibitions at Golestan Gallery, Seyhoun Gallery, and Barg Gallery in Tehran, as well as Gasso Banigio Gallery in Zurich. Her work has also been exhibited at museums and cultural centers in Konstanz and Singen, Germany.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS AND INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES

Her work has been included in numerous exhibitions, symposiums, and international art festivals, including the Salzburg International Painting Exhibition and Symposium in Austria; exhibitions at the PAM Museum in Maastricht; the Oaxaca Art Festival in Mexico; programs at Limes Gallery in Comárno, Slovakia; the Le Color de Méditerranée cultural program; painting exhibitions and symposiums in Patras, Greece; the Mediterranean Color Painting Exhibitions and Symposiums; a painting exhibition and symposium in Bützow, Germany; and the Karatay University Art Festival and Rumi Festival in Konya, Turkey.

She has participated in international art festivals and painting symposiums across Germany, France, Hungary, the Netherlands, Slovakia, Mexico, Austria, Serbia, Egypt, and other countries.

AWARDS

Jafari-Nejad received First Prize in Iranian Fashion Design at the “Shahrzad to Milan” competition, organized with the support of the Italian and Canadian embassies. She received the Special Jury Award at the World Contemporary Art exhibition in Los Angeles in 1998 and 1999, as well as the Award for Best Eastern Costume Design in Kyrgyzstan in 2004.