Born in 1924 in Qazvin, Iran, Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian began to study Fine Art at the University of Tehran until she moved to New York and continued her studies at Cornell University and at Parsons School of Design. Producing art for over fifty years, Farmanfarmaian presently lives and works between Tehran and New York. Using traditional techniques, Farmanfarmaian creates mirror mosaics of geometrical as well as organic patterns out of fragments of reverse glass painting set in stucco. She developed a distinctive technique and style in the late 1960s and 1970s that incorporates ancient Sufi geometric aesthetics, which she still employs to this day. These mosaics were historically used to ornament the exterior of important Iranian buildings. She pairs this historically significant practice of decoration with inspiration from Western forms of Abstract Expressionism and Minimalism to exploit new forms, materials, shapes and colours, while simultaneously incorporating the symbolic nature of the mirror, as a reflection of the self.  Her work is included in such collections as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as well as the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.