INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTIST, EDUCATOR, CONSCIOUS COMMUNITY FACILITATOR
Assal Gheysari aka PRIYA ASSAL — b.1977 Tehran/ Iran
MFA — School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
BFA — California College of the Arts, San Francisco, CA
Certified “Maiden to Mother” Teacher (Women’s Maturity Program), the Mother Spirit.
Certified Holistic Health Practitioner, World School of Massage, San Francisco, CA
Certified Introductory Level 2 Iyengar Yoga Instructor, Ramamani Iyengar Yoga Memorial Institute Pune, India
Former Introduction Leader to the Landmark Forum, Landmark Education, San Francisco, CA
Visionary and Former Facilitator of the Middle East Rainbow Gathering
ARTIST STATEMENT
Self-care is Inevitable. Self-care is Responsible. Self-care is Sustainable. Self-care is Power. Self-care is Love. Self-care is Intelligence. Self-care is Beauty. Self-care is Political. Self-care is Art.
My art form is both material and non-material. I invite guests to take part in (virtual and physical) rituals, pilgrimages, retreats, and holistically supportive experiences that trigger self-awareness and encourage the anchoring of bodies in the here and now. I see the here and now as a portal to a higher consciousness and to the spiritual realms that are outside the reach of our physical senses. Looking at Art's original and earlier function, we see it primarily used to bridge humans to their gods or god. However in the modern age, the function of Art has shifted to feed a consumer culture that the Capitalist economic system has created. Art is now primarily treated as a product or used as distraction, and has lost its value as a tool for spiritual communion.
Given our vast global issues and environmental crises, I see an urgency to repurpose art into a tool for supporting the transition of our consciousness from a paradigm of separation, fear, and scarcity to a paradigm of unity, love, and abundance. With this in mind, I design immersive environments intended for self-reflection, mind/body awareness, and community building. The spaces I've created range from isolation parlors, to communal prayer rooms, bathing sanctuaries, self-confessional booths, and retreats for effective cross-cultural collaborations. Within my collaborative performances If You Come To My House, Bodies of Water, and Own The Shadow/Share The Toxicity I make use of water as a connective material between my body and that of the participants, and treat the space of the performance as a sanctuary where the act of washing becomes a form of prayer or meditation.
MANIFESTO 2016-present
< LET'S CUT TO THE CHASE BECAUSE TIME IS PRESSING > This is about human consciousness and its potentiality for ascension < NOW >
There are only 2 kinds of people in the world today: Those who belong to the old world, and those who belong to the new world.
The people of the old world are those whose consciousness is fear dominant. And the people of the new world are those whose consciousness is love dominant.
This is pretty much the bottom line. < THIS IS ALSO A GOOD TIME TO STOP READING IF YOU'RE NOT INTERESTED IN ANY OF THIS >
----------------------------------------------
The old world is created by an old paradigm consciousness (fear-based) ; one that is currently seeing its own expiration. The new world is currently coming into being as a result of a new paradigm consciousness (love consciousness) that is the result of our evolution. The people whose consciousness operates in the new paradigm, find that thoughts and actions based in scarcity, fear, and greed no longer feel right. Fear-based thoughts are being challenged by the rising awareness of their illusory nature. These thought patterns feel like old clothes that are becoming tight and uncomfortable. Those of us tapped into or moving towards this paradigm of love>unity consciousness, are also realizing that life is an ever-abundant and intelligent system that works like magic when we tune ourselves to ITS flow.
In the new paradigm, we relate to animals as our teachers and our friends. We relate to the planet as our mother and our beloved. Acts of kindness and generosity are a normalized response in our encounters with one another. We desire and demand honesty from our political leaders, our media outlets, our social systems, and each other.
In this transitional period (the extinction of the old model and the full manifestation of the new model), we are left with the choice to cling on to the past and be left behind in an old, ugly, painful, and sad world, OR to surrender and embrace a consciousness (available to whoever is ready and wants it) that is weaving a new, beautiful, just, and abundant world for all living beings on our planet.
What can be done?
Those of us with the opportunity of safety, education, health, and other resources must work as active agents. We must work with a sense of urgency in our own transformation, and aid the transformation of others. This transformation is nothing but a holistic healing process.
My work consists of acting as facilitator during this transitional time by activating the body, mind, and spirit through ritual-based practices rooted in the values of the new paradigm for living.
CURRICULUM VITAE
SCHOLARSHIPS / FELLOWSHIPS / AWARDS
2018 — Low Residency MFA Merit Scholar at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
2016/17— Recipient of the Albertina "Nina" Zanzi Endowed Scholarship
2016/17 — Recipient of the All College Honors Ralls Scholarship in Painting Award
2016 — AICAD New York Studio Residency Program Fellowship
2016 — CCA Visual Studies Symposium presenter "Iranian Female Identities and Their Many Faces"
2015 — Clyde & Co Community Art Award Honorarium
2015 — Recipient of the Peter Shoemaker Memorial Scholarship
2012, 2013 — Jameel Prize nominee at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London for "Lost&Found"
SOLO Exhibitions
2020 — Inner Journey Practices Online Launch — MFA thesis Exhibition, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
https://sites.saic.edu/gradshow2020/artists/priya-assal/
2019 — 5D Activation — Second Year MFA Exhibition, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
2018 — Own the Shadow Share the Toxicity — First YEAR MFA exhibition, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
2017 — The Sublime — Painting Exhibition, CMCBD's 7th annual Art Walk, San Francisco, CA
2017 — Bodies of Water — BFA Thesis exhibition, CCA Hubbell Street Galleries, San Francisco, CA
2016 — If You Come To My House — AICAD NY Studio Artist Residency, Brooklyn, NY
2014 — Marie's Dead— The Folsom House, San Francisco, CA
2014 — Project Evoke — Burning Man, Black Rock City, Nevada
2012 — Ghabz o Bast (Lost&Found) — AUN GALLERY Tehran, Iran
2011 — Fantasies of a Modern Persian Bride — Faravahar Gallery, Tehran,Iran
2010 — Quantum Reality, Academy of Art University,San Francisco, CA
2010, — This holy hole, Academy of Art University, San Francisco,CA
2008 — Ladies in the stairway, SF Open Studios, San Francisco,CA
2007 — Today's Iranian Women — Green Rice Gallery, San Jose, CA
2006 — Bay Area Figurative Now, California Modern Gallery, San Francisco,CA
2003 — The Pompolinis, Shabnam Gallery, Tehran, Iran
2002 — Naked Truth— Shabnam Gallery, Tehran, Iran
1999 — Zin Raahe Bi Nahaayat— Khorshid Gallery, Tehran, Iran
GROUP Exhibitions
2017 — The Call — Performance collaboration with MENA members: Bonny Nahmias, Atoosa Maleki, and Sarah Seamstress), Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, CA
2017 — If You Come To My House — CCA Commencement Exhibition, CCA Campus, San Francisco, CA
2016 — If You Come to My House — Southern Exposure's 25th Annual Juried Exhibition: Me & You & This Other Thing, San Francisco, CA
2009 — I do Not Repent — Art Space Gallery, Oakland, CA
2007 — Get Exposed — 111 Minna Gallery in collaboration with Juxtapoz Magazine, San Francisco,CA
2006 — The Labyrinth — California Modern Gallery, San Francisco,CA
1998— 14 Surrealist Painters —Khorshid Gallery, Tehran,Iran