Many of the Alliance's members are deeply committed to positive, courageous and proactive change by promoting cultural exchange between diverse international communities. At the Alliance we often see how artist residencies and exchange projects can reform people's cultural assumptions and stereotypes about each other, and help keep the peace through intelligent dialogue and discourse. At the Alliance, we are proud to support artists who seek engagement and action through their art making in a tumultuous world arena. We look to artists and the organizations supporting them to help stimulate the free flow of information between nations.

Two California artists are taking their art straight to the center of the discussion when they exhibit together this month in Tehran, Iran, where political tensions daily escalate between the United States and Iran, and misperceptions between Western and Muslim peoples may be at an all time high.

Artists Clayton Campbell and Amitis Motevalli, will show their highly charged visual works at the Aaran Gallery, Tehran, opening this June 25 (www.aarangallery.com).

Both artists are known for their social commentary and interest in social justice issues. Campbell (www.claytoncampbell.com) is a former Trustee of the Alliance, and is Artistic Director of 18th Street Arts Center, an AAC member. Motevalli (www.amitismotevalli.com) received an AAC "Visions from the New California" Artist fellowship in 2008.

Campbell will exhibit two photographic installations including his seminal work, Words My Son Has Learned Since 9-11. Created in 2004, Campbell's well traveled "conversation" continues to stimulate cross cultural interest about how people view themselves both now and in the future in a post 9-11 reality. Words My Son Has Learned Since 9-11 has been exhibited at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Maison Europeenne de la Photographie, Paris; Higher Bridges Art Center, Enniskellen, Northern Ireland; Nam June Paik Art Center, Korea; WYSPA Art Institute, Gdansk, Poland; as well as Las Vegas, Kurdestan, and Croatia.

His second work is photo based conceptual project entitled After Abu Ghraib, which re-contextualizes the notorious photos of US soldiers torturing Iraqi civilians at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. Says Campbell, "I am aware of the incendiary nature of these images, especially showing them in a Muslim country whose government is at terrible odds with my own. But my larger commitment is to non-violent activism, and as such I will always seek provoke public dialogue through my art in support of basic human rights. The US still has not settled its moral debt around Abu Ghraib. My feeling is that in Iran where the government is torturing and imprisoning people for protesting a rigged election, the metaphor of Abu Ghraib allows Iranians to turn a spotlight on the illegal behavior of their own government. My work advocates that artists and citizens in both the US and Iran stand against violence and torture. We want to build bridges of understanding between our communities, not tear them down. In our work, Amitis and myself are asking important questions that creates a plaform in which to examine our collective moral compass."

Artist Amitis Motevalli, an Iranian American whose father's family has for hundreds of years been the caretakers of a shrine of the Imamzadeh Yahya in Iran, will show installation works contrasting the confluence of ritual, racism, and aspects of feminism within Iran and the United States. Motevalli's new offerings include "Here/There, Then/Now", a series of 7 hand embroidered large cloth flags. These flags are inspired by the traditional flags used in Shia rituals dating back to the Islamic battle of Karbala. In ritualistic use, the flags have excerpts from the Holy Quran and images from struggle of Karbala. The aesthetic of these flags are also used in grass roots advertisements.

In the Aaran Gallery exhibition, Ms. Motevalli will create a new paradigm. The triangular flags will be different in content, using imagery from the civil rights movement in the US. Made of deep colors of velvet the images and text are embroidered into the fabric with bright color threads, hanging from ceiling to floor. A speech by Fannie Lou Hamer, delivered at the Democratic National Convention in 1964 is translated and transcribed onto the wall of the gallery in gold ink. The speech is a simple, but eloquent account of Ms. Hamer's violent experience when attempting to register to vote.

Motevalli's second work, "Fascia", is made of white and mirror sequined spandex bikini bottoms stretched across the roof of a small gallery to create a dome shape. The stretched out spandex alters the architecture of the room and creates a sense of physical presences without actual the presence of any figures.

Amitis Motevalii was the recipient of the Alliance's 2008 "Visions from the New California" award, and was in-residence at the Sally & Don Lucas Artists Programs at Montalvo Arts Center. She created the installation work Threshold of the Innocents and Martyred, which was presented in the 18th Street Arts Center exhibition, War As A Way of Life, curated by Clayton Campbell. (http://www.18thstreet.org/futureofnations/WarAsaWayofLife/amitismotevalli.html)