Laleh Motlagh is an Iranian Azerbaijani-American artist whose work engages with the theme of displacement. Born in Tabriz, Iran, and now based in Chicago, she draws on her experience of migration to explore the relationship between place, memory, and identity.

Her installation Threaded Memories reimagines a Persian rug once housed in the Nickerson Mansion. Using leaves collected from both her childhood home in Iran and the grounds of the Driehaus Museum, she creates a suspended composition of pressed botanicals between acrylic sheets. The work bridges geographies and timelines, reflecting the layered nature of diasporic identity.

While rooted in personal history, Motlagh’s practice also speaks to broader questions of cultural continuity and adaptation. Through the use of Persian visual language in a contemporary American context, she examines how traditions evolve in transit—and how art can hold space for both loss and preservation.