S3 E38 An Iranian Jewish Painter Beyond Labels (with Dana Nehdaran)

In this episode, I speak with painter Dana Nehdaran about art, memory, and the complexity of Jewish-Iranian identity. Dana resists being reduced to a label and prefers to think of himself simply as a painter, but our conversation shows how deeply history and identity can still inform an artist's work without confining it. We discuss his upbringing in Iran in a traditional but not especially religious Jewish family, the Jewish community of his hometown, and the way he came to create Esther's Children, his series based on archival photographs of Iranian Jewish life. Dana describes how those images allowed him to explore both his own connection to Jewish history and a broader claim: that Jewish history in Iran is inseparable from Iranian history itself. We also turn to Dana's more recent self-portrait work, especially his "Interrogation Room" series, in which he repeatedly paints himself under stark light as a way of asking, again and again, "Who are you?" That opens into a rich conversation about painting as self-examination, the tension between talent and technique, and the painter's way of seeing color, shadow, and form. Throughout, Dana emerges as both fiercely individual and deeply rooted: an Iranian-born Jewish artist who is wary of identity categories, yet whose work preserves, reimagines, and complicates Jewish-Iranian memory in striking ways. The Genesis: Conversations About Jewish Arts and Culture is conceived of and created by Rabbi Josh Rose, and is a program of Art/Lab: Jewish Arts and Culture. Theme music by Rabbi Josh Rose. Links: Art/Lab: artlabpdx.org Dana's website where you can also encounter the work of his brother Darius Nehdaran: https://www.nehdaran.com/ Dana's Instagram (@dananehdaran_studio):  https://www.instagram.com/dananehdaran_studio/ Dana's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@dananehdaran1030 Esther's Children catalogue on Dana's site:  https://www.nehdaran.com/assets/pdf/dana-nehdaran-esther%27s-children-dubai-exhibition-catalogue.pdf Esther's Children (the Book): https://www.facebook.com/houman.sarshar