Behnaz Monzavi
MFA ’25 Fine Arts 2D
My practice centers on the body as a site where memory, identity, and cultural history intersect. I draw deeply from Persian visual traditions—particularly miniature painting, storytelling, and symbolic motifs—and weave them into contemporary forms such as printmaking, painting, and sculptural body casts. These motifs—birds, flora, patterns, and delicate lines—allow me to explore questions of belonging, resilience, and the inner lives of women.
I often begin by photographing my surroundings, using observed details from my environment as the foundation for my imagery. These elements, whether tied to a specific season or place, become layered across surfaces in ways that echo how personal and collective histories accumulate within us. The processes I use—woodcut, collage, hand-painted paper, and casting—each hold their own languages of repetition, fragmentation, and reconstruction.
Across my work, I think about how women carry emotional and physical stories within their bodies, both visible and hidden. Through layering, carving, and reimagining familiar forms, I create spaces where cultural memory and personal experience coexist. My goal is to honor the complexity of these narratives and to give visual presence to the quiet forms of resistance, strength, and continuity that shape women’s lives.
Behnaz Monzavi is an Iranian-born, Boston-based artist whose practice spans painting, printmaking, and sculptural forms. She holds an MFA in 2D Fine Arts from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design. Monzavi’s work reflects her cultural background and lived experiences, and she has exhibited in Boston and across the U.S. She lives and works in Boston, continuing to develop new bodies of work.
