Artist Statement
Darya Kharabi's work explores our relationship to land and each other, using animals that live in the periphery (like rabbits and birds) as allegories for the masses of humanity. They believe deeply in narratives where the prey unite and overthrow their oppressor, and in small, delicate things having a lot of power. Through cut paper, Darya experiments with ornament and composition to communicate experiences, investigate things that live in the periphery, and agitate for collectivity. Using sculpture and performance, Darya explores diasporic culture and emotion, imagines other worlds, and confronts constructed barriers of borders and time. Walking is a central part of their practice, especially in nature.
As a diasporic Iranian, Darya constantly considers their access to America’s land while being barred from their own through borders, sanctions, and totalitarian threats. Relegated to secondhand meeting places to be with their family, they wonder what home is when their loved ones are barred again and again from the land they were raised in, by coincidence of birth and passport.
CV
Education
Carnegie Mellon University
Sept 2016 - Dec 2020
BA in Social & Political History
Minor in Art
Solo* & Collaborative Exhibitions
2025
Sweetwater Center for Arts, 50 More, Sewickley, PA
folkLAB, folkFEST 2025, Homestead, PA
2024
Charm School Projects, Appendix, New York, NY
2021
Thomas Merton Center, Lost & Found: A Pop-Up Museum, Pittsburgh, PA
2019
Frame Gallery, Where There Is Power, Pittsburgh, PA
2018
Frame Gallery, Collective Skin, Pittsburgh, PA
Future Tenant, Object & Body, Pittsburgh, PA
Ellis Gallery, Arugula, Pine Nuts, Goat Cheese, and Fruit, Pittsburgh, PA
Frame Gallery, Everyone is Welcome, Pittsburgh, PA
2017
Ellis Gallery, No Different From Your Other, Pittsburgh, PA*
Ellis Gallery, A Perfect Home, Pittsburgh, PA
Awards
Carnegie Mellon Undergraduate Merit Grant 2016-20
Ox-bow School of Art Merit Scholarship 2018
Carnegie Mellon Student Undergraduate Research Fellowship 2017