The Artist: Classically trained in Persian art and poetry, Fatemeh Burnes was something of a child prodigy in her native Iran. But she had no gilded path to artistic success. At 15, she was in a massive car accident and, later, married off to a much older man. Her father ended up a political prisoner. “Art became a sacred thing for me, a savior and rescue,” she says. She settled in Southern California in the 1970s, earning art degrees and eventually finding teaching jobs, including at Mt. San Antonio College, where she is a professor and gallery director. A Laguna Beach resident, Burnes has exhibited her paintings and photography in museums around the region as well as internationally. While her work is autobiographical, its abstract nature is less documentary and more akin to “dream walking” through her memories, she says. “Art isn’t just meditative for me,” she says. “It’s essential to help me reconnect.”
The Artist’s inspiration: I had a very large tumor on my carotid artery and went through a series of radiation therapy on my head and neck about two years ago. “After Me” had to do with a re-examination of self. What is after me? What is being present? Going through this experience of lying there, controlling every breath I took, as this destructive beam is going through my head and neck. Not to be dramatic, it’s just such a point of focus. I started with this very defined skull. Then I didn’t want the skull, I pushed it back. There’s this dialogue between the beams. They became like a spider web, kind of like something to overcome that skull. The idea of living, dying. The practice of not fighting fear, but accepting fear. All these associations came through. Very soon this year, I will be the longest living member of my family so far. It’s a privilege to be able to move on with life.
