"Mitra's work reflects her textured life, starting in Iran and crossing borders, personalities, and moods as it crosses mediums and materials."
-The BBC
Born and educated in Tehran, Iran, she moved to The United States in 1979. Mitra’s art is an expression of her commitment to the possibility of a world without war, a world where everyone has basic human rights and full self-expression.
She has exhibited at Washington DC's Sculpture Now 2008 and 2009,
Art-O-Matic 1999, 2003, 2009-2010, Evolving
Perceptions, 1999 and 2003, Art Trekking 2001, and Rockville, MD's The Arts Place. In 2002 she founded "Art For
Peace". She is a member of the Washington Sculptors Group.
Her work has been reviewed in The Washington Post and the BBC.
She has worked mainly in collage until 2005 when she began a series of steel sculptures.
As an activist she was the recipient of the National Capital Area Peacemaker Award, founder and Director of MidEast 2000, a grassroots, non-partisan, non-profit organization dedicated to the possibility of peace and human rights in the Middle East.
She is a director of Rockport Institute, the global leader in developing career coaching methodologies for people seeking a high level of personal
satisfaction and success in the
workplace.
The following is a reproduction of an article published by the BBC in
Persian.
Art for peace and human rights
By: Majid Joneidi
BBC Washington, D.C.
Translation from Farsi
Friday, May 26, 2006
Mitra Mortazavi Lore is a social activist who has turned to art to convey
her message of "peace on earth."
Mrs. Mortazavi Lore has been living in the United States since 1979 and has
been active in the arts for the last eight years.
She is a graduate of Hadaf high school and the College of Political Science
Studies, both in Tehran, Iran. She has been a peace and social justice activist
in the Washington D.C area for many years. In 1995 she was awarded the
Washington Area Peacemaker Award by American University.
Mitra started the Mideast 2000 peace foundation in the Washington area in
1991
with the goal fostering peace in the Middle East. Mitra.s work in the arts
began in 1998 mainly working in collage and sculpture. Mitra says she is
inspired by Rumi.s poetry in her art and through it she tries to spread a
message of peace and friendship to all peoples of the world.
Mitra.s work, including her steel and plaster sculptures, has been displayed in
many exhibitions and has been well received by art critics and viewing public.
Her efforts for peace and her art have been written about in various
publications such as Washington Post and Potomac Gazette.
Mitra says she created a three dimensional installation called .Blood Bath.
after the September 11 attacks to express her dismay at the reaction of
governments and nations to such atrocities. She says her first sculpture named
Peaceful Persian Warrior contains the message to the world that although we may
bear arms to defend ourselves but once the threat is removed we need to return
to peaceful coexistence.
Mitra's current work is concentrated on steel sculptures with the latest
being
The Gift of Masaai Presence, which she has donated to the Nomadic Kenyan
Children.s Fund. Mitra says children in Masaai families who do not own any
livestock are treated as slaves and her original intention was to donate the
proceeds form the sale of her art to purchase livestock for such Masaai
families. However, considering limitations imposed on Masaai girls she has
decided to earmark her donation for the education of Masaai girls.
Mitra is also active in organizations supporting cancer patients and
research.
She walks 65 kilometers over 2 days in an annual Cancer Walk with a goal of
fund raising for cancer research and aid to families with cancer patients.
Mrs. Mortazavi Lore has two daughters and a son and lives and works with her
American husband, Nicholas Lore, in their career consulting business in
Maryland.
