Nina Rastgar

Nina Rastgar is an interdisciplinary conceptual artist and PhD candidate in Media and Design Innovation at Toronto Metropolitan University, working across sculpture, performance, and installation.

Raised among the Gilaki communities of Gilan province in northern Iran, a region known for its agriculture, craft, and rich food culture. These early experiences continue to shape their approach to art as a relational and ecological practice rooted in care, labor, and collective life.

They have worked within the Cultural Heritage, Tourism, and Handicrafts Organization of Gilan, engaging in gardening and farming practices that later evolved into wearable sculptures andobject-based works using wood and metal. This background forms the foundation of their interdisciplinary approach, where material exploration becomes a mode of cultural and political critique.

Rastgar received their MFA as a Presidential Fellow at the University of South Carolina, where they also taught as a Teaching Assistant in the School of Visual Art and Design. Their pedagogy emphasizes participatory learning, material experimentation, collective critique, and social awareness, drawing from personal experience and a deep sensitivity to material language.

Over the past several years, Rastgar has received scholarships and residencies from institutions including Penland School of Craft, Peters Valley School of Craft, the Center for Metal Arts, the John C. Campbell Folk School, and Pocosin Arts School of Fine Craft. Their work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including presentations in Iran, Turkey, France, Italy, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Currently based in Toronto, Rastgar’s doctoral research explores the intersection of eco-social practices, materiality, and technology, approaching technology not as optimism or spectacle, but as a lived condition that shapes bodies, environments, and power relations.

Website: ninarastgar.com

IG: @ninarastgar

Photo by: Grace Yan