Los Chapter DAR honors Local Artist

Los Altos, CA – Los Altos Hills resident and artist Badri Valian was named the 2022 American Heritage Women in the Arts Recognition Award winner by the Los Altos Chapter of the DAR.

Recognizing and honoring women who have made significant achievements in their chosen artistic field, this award is given to Badri for her contributions to her diverse artwork addressing social concerns like poverty, sexual harassment, forced displacement, and discrimination against marginalized groups, and engaging local communities.

Badri Valian is a participatory interactive installation artist and a painter, living in our community of Los Altos Hills, California. She studied Fine Arts back in her home country, Iran, where she received several national awards for her “creative techniques”.

“Freedom of speech” and “freedom of religion” added a huge impact to her artistic career after she immigrated to the U.S years ago. The prevalent censorship, gender discrimination, and inequality she had experienced back in her home country where she grew up, and its contrast with the life she has lived in the U.S encouraged her to find her voice and make a tremendous shift through her art.

She mostly approaches her art projects through participatory interaction in which she does not regard the final presentation as a goal but tries to conduct site-specific public-oriented activities at a certain period of time.

Performing “Pink Window” and “Smell of Coffee in Damascus” are prominent examples of her significant effort to engage the public community in her art projects.

Badri is the recipient of the Santa Fe Art Institute, Revolution Residency, 2022. Most recently, she received an honorarium from Mozaik Philanthropy for her creative painting with the Democracy theme. Morgan Bricca, our 2021 Award Winner was present and was honored to pin our 2022 winner.

For DAR membership inquiries and other questions about the Los Altos Chapter, contact Membership Chairman, Donna M. Santistevan at losaltosdar@gmail.com. You can view Morgan’s work at https://www.badrivalian.com

To learn more about the Los Altos Chapter visit www.losaltos.californiadar.org.

The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 to preserve the memory and spirit of those who contributed to securing American independence. For more than 125 years, the DAR has strived to bring awareness to the honorable sacrifices and enduring legacy of all patriots who fought for America’s freedom. Through the DAR Genealogical Research System (www.dar.org/GRS), the public can access a free database of information amassed by the DAR about these patriots. DAR is a nonprofit, nonpolitical women’s service organization with more than 185,000 members in approximately 3,000 chapters worldwide. Any woman 18 years or older, regardless of race, religion, or ethnic background, who can prove lineal descent from a patriot of the American Revolution is eligible for membership. DAR members passionately carry out the timeless mission of promoting historic preservation, education, and patriotism. To learn more about the work of today’s DAR, visit www.dar.org