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Hadi Gharabaghi

Biography

As a young boy during the Iranian Islamic Revolution of 1979, Hadi Gharabaghi sought refuge in the imaginative world of literature and cinema. Once in the United States, he transformed this enthusiasm into academic work in critical studies and the media. Hadi's experience as a minority-a Baha'i among Shiite Muslims, then a Middle Easterner in the United States-gave him a keen understanding of the values of both assimilation and identity. These themes drive his artistic works.

Hadi struggled for years under a theocratic government; his religion excluded him from university education. Leaving his family, Hadi paid a smuggler to take him over the border into Pakistan, where he began to learn English, taught Farsi to officers of the United Nations, and formed a youth group for other Iranians of his faith. He applied to move to the United States and entered his new homeland at the age of 30. "I had a thirst for learning only comparable to that of a desert traveler reaching a source of water." He worked the night shift and studied English, later adding courses in art, philosophy, and religion.

At the university, Hadi specialized in the history of art and media of the 19th and 20th centuries. He was employed in framing shops and opened a photo business, the latter providing practical training in large-format, digital, and traditional photography. A photo-essay project involved interviewing and photographing three Iranian artists and superimposing interview text onto large-scale photos. His photos appeared in multiple exhibitions at the campus, in galleries, and online. Hadi also interned at the Smithsonian Institute Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.

Hadi finds deep satisfaction in studying, teaching, and writing about cinema. But Hadi's wife, whose employment supported herself, her husband, and Hadi's mother, now plans to stop working and enroll in a prestigious undergraduate degree program. This scholarship enables Hadi to pursue graduate education and continue the life of the scholar and artist he strove so long to become.

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