Reza Daftarian

PhD Researcher and Associate Lecturer

Inside a Diamond on Fire: Ayeneh-Kari in Twelver Shi’i Monuments of Iran

Supervisor: Dr. Sussan Babaie

Advisor: Dr. Stephen Whiteman

Funded by AHRC Doctoral Studentship, Consortium for the Humanities and Arts South-East England (CHASE)

I am a researcher currently pursuing my PhD in Islamic art and architectural history. My research is primarily centered on urban landscapes across the Persianate world and forms of surface revetment in the built environment. I have published and researched on topics ranging from the artwork of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmian and Qajar palatial monuments to funerary architecture and religious anthropology. I am currently working on my doctoral dissertation, “Inside a Diamond on Fire: Ayeneh-Kari in Twelver Shi’i Monuments of Iran and Iraq,” which centers on the affective properties of ayeneh-kari (mirror-work) within the spatial and sociohistorical context of Shi’i shrines. I earned my Master’s degree from the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT, and hold a Bachelor’s degree in art history and Middle Eastern Studies from Bard College. From 2015 to 2017, I served as the Curatorial Assistant of African Art at the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, Georgia.

Reza Daftarian
Email

Research Interests

  • Qajar and Safavid art and architecture
  • Early modern Islamic urbanism
  • Shi’i shrine culture
  • Phenomenology
  • Ephemeral architecture

Education

Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK (2022– )

  • Doctor of Philosophy | History of the Arts and Architecture of Islam and Iran
  • Dissertation: Inside a Diamond on Fire: Ayeneh-Kari in Twelver Shi’i Monuments of Iran
  • Supervisor: Dr. Sussan Babaie; Advisor: Dr. Stephen Whiteman

Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA  (2019–2021)

  • Master of Science in Architectural Studies | History, Theory, and Criticism of Art and Architecture | Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture
  • Thesis: “Fractured and Dissolved, Architecture Ablaze: Towards an Understanding of Ayeneh-Kari in Iranian Palaces”
  • Advisor: Dr. Nasser Rabbat; Reader: Dr. Kristel Smentek

Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (2015–2018)

  • Bachelor of Arts | Art History and Middle Eastern Studies
  • Thesis: “Metaphors, Mysticism, and Mathematics: The Life and Work of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian”
  • Advisor: Dr. Susan Aberth; Readers: Dr. Olga Bush and Dr. Katherine Boivin

Bard College Berlin, Berlin, DE (2016–2017)

  • Certificate in Arts and Society

 

Awards and Honors

  • Consortium for the Humanities and Arts South-East England Fellowship (2022-2026)
  • MIT Master of Science in Architecture Studies Thesis Prize (2021)
  • Aga Khan Program Travel Grant Award (2020)
  • Graduate Fellowship in Architectural History at MIT (2019–2021)
  • Jean French Award for Art History (2018)
  • Community Action Award of Bard College (2016)
  • Posse Foundation Full-Tuition Leadership Scholarship to Bard College (2015–2018)
  • Congressman John Lewis Congressional Art Award (2015)

Work Experience

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA | Research Assistant to Dr. Nasser Rabbat (Jul. 2020–Jul. 2021)
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA | Research Assistant to Dr. James L. Wescoat (Aug. 2019–Jun. 2020)
  • Circle 1 Gallery, Berlin, DE | Interpretation and Archives Staff Member (Jul. 2017–Jan. 2018)
  • Museum für Islamische Kunst, Berlin, DE | Collections/Research Intern (Sep.–Dec. 2017)
  • The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA | Curatorial Assistant of African Art (May 2015–Aug. 2017)
  • The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA | Assistant Coordinator of Youth and Community Engagement (Apr. 2014–May 2015)

 

Teaching Experience

  • Courtauld Institute of Art, London, UK | Teaching Assistant: BA Foundations Model 1—Byzantium, Medieval, and Buddhist Arts (Sep.–Dec. 2023)
  •  Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA | Teaching Assistant: 4.617 — “What is an Islamic City? The Case of Cairo” (Jan.–May 2020)
  • Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY | Teaching Assistant: BLC 210 — “Inclusive Pedagogies” (Sep.–Dec. 2018)
  • Bard College Berlin, Berlin, DE | Teaching Assistant: AH 340 — “Exhibition Culture and Public Space: Documenta, Skulptur Projecte Münster, Venice Biennial” (Sep.–Dec. 2017)
  • Spelman College, Atlanta, GA | Guest Lecturer: ART 312 — “Contemporary African Art” (Jun–Aug. 2017)
  • Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY | Guest Lecturer: ART 382 — “Modern Days, Ancient Nights: African Art, Music, Cinema, and Fashion” (Jan.–May 2017)

 

 

Exhibitions

  • Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY | Co-Curator of Off Shore (Nov.–Dec. 2018)
  • The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA | Curatorial Assistant for Making Africa: A Continent of Contemporary Design (Oct. 2017–Jan. 2018)
  • The High Museum of Art, Atlanta, GA | Curatorial Assistant for Universal and Sublime: The Vessels of Magdalene Odundo  (Jun.–Oct. 2017)
  • Hessel Museum of Art—Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, NY | Co-Curator of To Care, To Exhibit, To Curate (Nov. 2016–Jan. 2017)

Publications

  • Reza Daftarian, “Monumentalizing Monarchy: The Codification of Ayeneh-Kari in Qajar Palaces,” Immediations 21 (forthcoming, 2024).
  • Reza Daftarian, Review of the Fourteenth Annual Boston Palestine Film Festival, International Journal of Islamic Architecture 11, no. 2 (2022): 449–53.
  • Reza Daftarian, “Naqqashi-ha-ye Ghavehkhaneh, Ayeneh-Kari, va Gol o Bolbol dar Honar-e Monir [Coffeehouse Paintings, Mirror-Work, and The Rose and Nightingale in Monir’s Art],” in Yek Zendegi-ye Yadgiri: Honar-e Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian [A Life of Learning: The Art of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian], ed. Ali Najafian and Maryam Najafian (Tehran: Negaristan Cultural Institute, 2021), 52–69.
  • Reza Daftarian, “The Ornamental Idiom of Ayeneh-Kari,” Imprint 1, no. 2 (2021): 109–19.

 

Presentations

  • Courtauld Institute of Art PhD Symposium, London, UK | Mediating the Sacred: Affect, Awe, and Ayeneh-Kari in the Tomb of Fatemeh-ye Massumeh in Qom (May 2024)
  • University of Seoul Iranian Studies Graduate Student Symposium, Seoul, KR |  From the Shahnameh to the Battle of Karbala: Reorienting Coffeehouse Paintings and Ta’ziyeh Performances in Qajar Iran (Sep. 2021)
  • State University of New York, New Paltz Art History Symposium, New Paltz, NY | Between Shah Cheragh and Gol o Bol Bol: Synthesizing the Sources of Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian’s Artistic Practice (Apr. 2019)
  • Circle 1 Gallery, Berlin, DE | Staging Sovereignty in the Palaces of Safavid Iran (Dec. 2018)
  • Humboldt University Religious Studies Symposium, Berlin, DE | The Phenomenon of the “Image” in Medieval Islamic Hagiographies (Nov. 2018)

 

Research Languages

  • Fluency: English and Persian
  • Reading Proficiency: French and Spanish
  • Elementary Proficiency: Classical Arabic

Shah Cheragh Shrine, located in Shiraz, Iran

Green and gold shimmering interior
Eastern view of the ayeneh-kari (mirror-work) haram (tomb chamber) of Shah Cheragh Shrine, located in Shiraz, Iran. Photograph by Reza Daftarian, 2024.

Citations