An MTSU graduate whose artwork weaves the fabric of life together was the guest on a recent “MTSU On the Record” radio program.

Beizar Aradini

Host Gina Logue’s interview with Beizar Aradini, an artist and 2017 alumna of MTSU’s Department of Art and Design in the College of Liberal Arts, first aired Aug. 21 on WMOT-FM Roots Radio 89.5 and online at www.wmot.org. You can listen to their conversation above.

“The Kurdish Gothic,” MTSU alumna Beizar Aradini’s 2018 thread on canvas, depicts a hardworking farm couple and was inspired by Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” and her own grandparents. The piece is 8 inches by 10 inches. (Photo courtesy of Beizar Aradini)

Aradini, who came to the United States from a Kurdish refugee camp in Turkey when she was 2 years old, blends all kinds of fibers, including human hair, into artistic images suitable for display.

The laborious work with an embroidery needle and hoop results in depictions of her Kurdish relatives and expressions of her dual identity as an immigrant and an American. These include “The Kurdish Gothic,” a work of thread and canvas inspired by Grant Wood’s “American Gothic” and her own grandparents.

“Their posture, their facial expressions kind of gave off that hard work, the farmer labor,” said Aradini, who graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in studio art.

“That’s very much who my grandparents were … so I played off that and their relationship as these people trying to make it within their own homeland.”

In addition to her exhibitions at MTSU’s Todd Gallery and across Tennessee, including a solo exhibition in Chattanooga, Aradini’s work also has been included in nationally acclaimed exhibits in Atlanta, Chicago, Tampa and New York City.

You can see more of Aradini’s work at her website, www.beizararadini.com.

To hear previous “MTSU On the Record” programs, visit the searchable “Audio Clips” archives at www.mtsunews.com.

For more information about “MTSU On the Record,” contact Logue at 615-898-5081 or WMOT-FM at 615-898-2800.

MTSU alumna Beizar Aradini’s 2017 embroidered work of art, “Americanized,” depicts young relatives whose parents and older family members fled the Middle East as Kurdish refugees to seek new lives in the United States. The piece is 7 inches wide by 17 inches long. (Photo courtesy of Beizar Aradini)

This detail of MTSU alumna Beizar Aradini’s 2017 embroidered work of art, “Americanized,” more clearly shows the young relatives whose family members are Kurdish refugees seeking new lives in the United States. (Photo courtesy of Beizar Aradini)