Shokufeh Kavani (Persian: شکوفه کاوانی, born 1970 in Tehran) is an Iranian contemporary painter, translator and artist currently living in Sydney, Australia. She is primarily known as a translator and as an abstract painter of the post–Islamic society of Iran.
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Shokufeh was born in 1970 in Tehran, Iran. She received her education first at the Saadi Primary and Secondary School and then at ( Joan of Arc ) Jeanne D'Arc High School. She went on to the Bandar-Abbas medical university for a bachelor degree in Nursing before migrating to Australia as a professional nurse.
At age 19, she started painting in reaction to the events that were happening around her. She was only nine when the 1979 Islamic revolution took place. The eight-year Iran-Iraq War had a deep impact on her. While in Iran she carried on painting, she never exhibited her work in Iran.[1]
In 1994, she earned a First Certificate in English from the Cambridge University centre in Tehran. She decided to put her new ability to use by coupling it with her deep knowledge of Persian literature. She started translating "The Whirling Dervishes" (Persian: مولانا و چرخ درویشان) by Ira (Shems) Friedlander, a Best Seller published in 2004 (1382) by Zaryab Publishers.[1][2][3][4][5] The book is about the whirling dervishes and the ceremonies with which they are involved. The story of Mevlana Jallaledin-Balkhi known as Rumi in the western world is embedded in the narrative. The book has magnificent black-and-white photos of the Sema, a Whirling Dervishes ceremony which opens a new window to the mysterious and esoteric world of the Dervishes. The majority of the photographs were taken by Ira (Shems) Friedlander. The rest are by Nazih Ozal. The new approach to the history of the Mevlevieh sect and their music over the last 100 years makes the book unique.[1][2][4][5]
In 1997, Shokufeh migrated to Sydney, Australia and started working and studying again for her bachelor degree in Nursing as her degree from Iran was not recognised.
All this while, she continued painting and in 2003 had her first solo exhibition entitled Persian Graffiti, promoted by the famous Iranian writer, Shahrnush Parsipur. The exhibition gained a great deal of attention from the Australian Media.[1] After the 2005 Cronulla riots, she joined the art group " TAH, Art for Humanity " and participated in twelve group exhibitions all over Australia to raise awareness against racism.[1]
Some sale proceeds of the group went to an Afghan Charity, Mahboba's Promise,[1] to support Afghan widows and orphans. These humanitarian efforts earned her nominations for the "Australian of the Year Award in 2005, 2007 & 2008, and for the Pride of Australian Medal in 2005 and 2007 by The Daily Telegraph (Australia) newspaper.[1]
Her translation of an article, "Dog and the long winter", from a book by Iranian writer Shahrnush Parsipur (Persian: شهرنوش پارسی پور), was tabled in the Conference on Women and Depression in 2007,[6][7] Sydney, Australia. In 2008, her painting, "Dog and the long winter" was chosen for a poster for the Women's Mental Health International Conference in Melbourne, Australia.[1] She continues to exhibit her paintings regularly. Two of her paintings featured among the official final selections in the My Favourite Movie Moments exhibition, the 2006 Sydney Film Festival and also her paper appeared in First International Symposium about Iranian Cinema .[8] Two paintings have been selected for 100 years of imprisonment, a special exhibition organised in the United States of America in support of political prisoners in Iran.[9]
In 2006, she was selected to present "Prince Claus Awards" to Dr. Michael Mel in Papua New Guinea - University of Goroka alongside the Dutch Ambassador H.E.Mr. Niek van Zutphen.[10] She also attended the main "Prince Claus Awards" ceremony in 2008 and met the Dutch Royal family and the laureates of the awards.[1][11] She has also participated in Fictive Days Sixten Kai Nielsen, a project organised by www.wooloo.org for the Berlin Festival in 2008, wherein she played the role of Queen Elizabeth I of England along with seven others playing famous characters in the history of cinema.[12][13][14][15]
Her work was the official selection for the Australian Day special exhibition at the gallery of " At the vanishing point " in Sydney.[16] In 2009, her translation of Anita Heiss’s "Who am I? The Diary of Mary Talence" was published in Tehran by Morvarid Publishers (Persian: انتشارات مروارید). This has been positively reviewed in the press by Shahrnush Parsipur (Persian: شهرنوش پارسی پور), Asadollah Amraee (Persian: اسدالله امرایی) and Elaheh Dehnavi Persian: الهه دهنوی [17] and acclaimed by the public.[2][18][19][20][21]
In 2010, she became the first Iranian-born Australian recipient of the Edna Ryan Awards in the category of Art, bestowed by the New South Wales Women's Electoral Lobby to women who have been pioneers in different walks of life.[22][23][24]
She currently lives in Sydney, works as a nurse, and also studies for her postgraduate certificate as a Genetic Counsellor in Charles Sturt University, paints and intends to take participate in more exhibitions and works on translating another book. Three of her paintings will appear in 2011 Florence Biennale, Italy.[25][26] [27].