London – Highlighting the incredible world of Persian taste in food and art, the May 10 Persia Dinner and Discourse will feature the distinguished international scholar, Dr. Sussan Babaie. The Andrew W. Mellon Reader in the Arts of Iran and Islam at the Courtauld Institute of Art will feature elements of her award-winning book Isfahan and Its Palaces: Statecraft, Shi‘ism and the Architecture of Conviviality in Early Modern Iran (Edinburgh University Press, paperback 2018). She will speak about palaces in Isfahan such as the Ali Qapu and the Chehel Sotun, specially designed for royal banqueting and ceremonies of feasting and hospitality. Dr. Babaie will present the intricacies involved in how food and art served as tools for political persuasion in 17th-century Iran. Inspired by ancient habits of Iranian kingship, those Safavid practices defined the characteristics of the religious and political life of modern and contemporary Iran. Her presentation will be followed by a Persian meal and a chance to network and socialize.

Dinner and Discourse Series featuring Women of Excellence is an initiative by Persia Educational Foundation. The series brings those women and men together who aspire for excellence in their fields and display a pioneering spirit in service to their community. The initiative serves as a platform for networking and collaboration.

This public event will take place on Thursday 10 May 2018, starting at 7:00 pm. Each Dinner & Discourse is limited to a select number of diverse participants. The proceeds from sale of tickets will go towards the Persia Scholarship Fund to enable deserving students to pursue their education. Each ticket is GBP 45.00 directly payable to Persia (email for details: info@persia.education) or available through Eventbrite (plus an additional Eventbrite handling fee of GBP 2.50). Each ticket includes three-course gourmet Persian dinner, drinks, and treats. Persia is a UK-registered charity and eligible for Gift Aid.

About the Speaker
Sussan Babaie earned her Ph.D. at the Institute of Fine Arts, NYU, where she focused on the arts of Islam. She held teaching positions in the USA, and Germany prior to her work in the UK and is on the International Advisory Board of Art History.

Her exhibitions have been held at the Sackler Museum of Harvard University, the University of Michigan Museum of Art, and Smith College Museum of Art (1998). While a graduate student fellow at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, she co-curated and co-wrote the catalog of the exhibition ‘Persian Drawings in the Metropolitan Museum of Art’ (1989). She has consulted on Persian and Islamic arts with the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore, the Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, the University of Michigan, the Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon, and the Detroit Institute of Art.

Her research interests include the early modern Safavid period with topics on urbanism and empire studies, sexuality and social habits of ‘seeing’, and transcultural visuality and notions of exoticism. Her research has been supported by grants from the United States National Endowment for the Humanities, the Fulbright (for research in Egypt and Syria), and the Getty Research Institute in Los Angeles.