Fatemeh Takht-Keshian was born and raised in the city of Tehran, lives and works in London. She received her practice-based PhD in Art from the Lancaster University, UK in 2017. She received her MA in painting from Azad University (Faculty of Art and Architecture) in Tehran in 2010, and her BA in painting from the University of Science & Culture in Tehran in 2007. In 2018. She founded Cista Arts, an award winning interdisciplinary art organisation, created specifically to promote the work of artists who address contemporary social issues and global concerns through their art.  She also was appointed as the art director at Mehri Publication in London, a leading Persian publisher outside Iran. 

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Her PhD research included two solo exhibitions and a 53,000-word written thesis. The exhibitions include: “The I-Eye” at The Peter Scott Gallery (September 2016) and “Me, Myself and I: Relocate the Multi-Layered Identity” at Manchester Gallery (June 2018). The written thesis introduces cultural understandings of Iranian identity from the mid-twentieth century. She investigates how Tehran Biennials reflect the changing dynamics of Iranian international relations; including how the Iranian state uses this cultural event to change the image of Iran beyond the country’s borders. The scholarly analysis introduces an original constellation of artistic practices through archival research on Tehran’s Biennials, providing a visual analysis of the concept of Iranian identity within Persian culture, tradition, and history. Her practice-led research critically investigates the role of visual and artistic mediations of socio-political and ideological conflicts between the state, art organizers, and artists. By making use of a variety of art approaches such as drawing, painting, collage, and video, she visualised the complexity of her identity as an Iranian woman. 

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Fine Art (Painting) education in Iran at the time was a six–year long course, incorporating undergraduate and Master’s degrees. It included both workshops (Painting, Drawing, Sculpture Studios) and theoretical courses such as History of Iranian Arts, History of World, Fine Arts and the Philosophy of Islamic Art. Studying, visiting and sketching Iranian historic sites and museums, and its related artworks was an integral part of each her artistic projects. Fatemeh also made an extensive study background for her Master’s dissertation ‘The Position of Persian Garden in the Tabriz School of Painting in the Safavid period, the Shahnameh of Shah Tahmasp (1501- 1548)’ in Islamic Art and Persian Miniature’ art, history and theories. She supplemented her studies wandering through local historic sites as well as travelling around the country and abroad, visiting other historic cities and such as Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Liverpool, and New York, among many.

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Farsi is Fatemeh’s native language; she is fluent in English and has a sufficient level of Arabic. She also has access to numerous first-hand texts and manuscripts in Farsi and is able to present them for English students, thus adding a personal context to historical and cultural aspects of their studies.