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Fifth-year art student Mahyar Nili’s passion for art, along with an interest in feminism, h

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Using a form of art called video installation, in which an image is projected onto a three-dimens

Mahyar Nili’s passion for the connection between art and feminism brought her to UCLA from Santa Monica College three years ago.

Since then, the fifth-year art student has scoured the campus for every opportunity for academic growth. She said she has grown personally and academically in her time at UCLA and is now looking to share what she has learned with other students.

Nili said she drew when she was younger but stopped. After leaving art untouched for a long time, she rediscovered her love for the craft at Santa Monica College. In a beginning drawing class Nili began experimenting with art that expressed her identity as an Iranian American woman.

“It was freeing to put whatever you were interested in into a piece,” she said.

Nili arrived at UCLA knowing she wanted to pursue a double major in women’s studies and art. Specifically, Nili said she wanted to explore the expression of feminism within art, especially modern feminism, which addresses feminism in other contexts.

“My idea of feminism includes the social, political, economic equality and/or equity of all humans, considering intersections of race, class, gender, sexuality and religion,” Nili said.

After entering UCLA, Nili looked for a group on campus focusing on the connection between art and feminism, but said she couldn’t find one at UCLA or other local universities or art schools.

But then discussions with Barbara Drucker, a professor in the art department, helped her find a way to further explore her interest in the relationship between art and feminism.

“Barbara asked me, ‘Why don’t you put the word out there?’” Nili said. “And I did.”

In the spring of 2005, Nili founded fem•in•art, a student group with about eight to 10 students who meet to talk about art and its relation to feminism.

“We wanted to get artist lectures and mostly just be able to talk about our work with others, to talk about how feminism and art connected in our work and lives,” Nili said.

“There wasn’t really any group within the art department like this,” said Alexis Disselkoen, a fifth-year art student and member of the group since last year.

“There wasn’t a place to sit down and talk about issues pertaining to the students within the group,” she said.

Last year, Nili came up with the idea of having a symposium focusing on art informed by feminism at UCLA, echoing a wave of other symposiums across Southern California.

“I was thinking there were so many other feminist artists the group wanted to see and talk with, so I thought, what if we had some sort of panel?” Nili said.

Soon after, Nili heard about an opportunity with the Undergraduate Research Center to do a research project where a UCLA professor would act as her mentor and help her plan the symposium.

Nili’s interest in the connection between art and feminism goes beyond getting a grade or being a departmental honors student.

“I asked my mentor for more books to read about this topic and she asked, ‘Is this for the project or your life’s work?’” Nili said. “It’s both.”

Nili said the knowledge she has gained is a tool she will use for the rest of her life.

“Even if I am not teaching classes specifically about feminism in art, feminism informs my perspective on art,” she said. “It’s one lens to look at (art) though.”

By using the resources of the women’s studies and art departments, UCLA’s research opportunities, and observing current feminist art movements, Nili now has a comprehensive idea of what feminism is and how it currently is being expressed through art.

“I now have a stronger foundation,” she said. “I can listen to what another person thinks about feminism in art and know enough to discern what parts of their understanding I agree with and what parts I don’t.”

Nili’s professors in both the art and women’s studies departments cite her as an example of how students can make their undergraduate education their own.

“She is doing what every UCLA student should do,” Drucker said. “She’s using the resources of the whole university, using different departments to obtain an interdisciplinary perspective and get the richest education possible.”