The Little Black Fish is an original interdisciplinary performance that brings a beloved Persian story to life through textile art, bilingual storytelling, music, movement, and light. Inspired by Samad Behrangi’s celebrated tale of a small fish who leaves the safety of a narrow stream in search of the wider world, the performance explores themes of curiosity, courage, transformation, and independent thought.
At the heart of the production is a 20-foot-long handcrafted textile tapestry river, created using embroidery, fabric collage, and layered transparent materials inspired by Persian textile traditions and the original illustrations of Farshid Mesghali. As performers animate the textile through movement, light, and sound, the stitched imagery transforms into a living storytelling landscape.
Presented in Persian and English, the performance combines narration, music, visual storytelling, movement, and light projection to create an immersive experience accessible across cultures and generations. Blending contemporary performance with Persian artistic traditions, The Little Black Fish reimagines tapestry as a dynamic storytelling medium and introduces audiences to one of the most influential works of modern Persian literature.
Parvaneh Hosseini is a Columbus-based textile artist, writer, director, performer, daf player, and educator whose work bridges visual art, storytelling, performance, music, and Persian literary traditions. Through embroidery, fabric collage, and large-scale textile construction, she transforms stories, poetry, and cultural memory into immersive artistic experiences.
Raised in Iran, Parvaneh learned sewing and embroidery alongside her mother, a tailor, while growing up immersed in a rich culture of storytelling and poetry. These early experiences of working with fabric and listening to stories continue to shape her interdisciplinary practice. She holds a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern and North African Studies with a minor in Anthropology from the University of Arizona, bringing both artistic and scholarly perspectives to her work.
Her projects have been presented through exhibitions, artist talks, workshops, and musical programs at McConnell Arts Center, The Ohio State University, Upper Arlington Public Library, and community cultural events throughout Columbus. An active member of the Iranian-American community, she has helped organize and perform in cultural and literary programs, including Nowruz celebrations, poetry gatherings, and community arts events that foster cultural exchange and dialogue.
Through her work, Hosseini creates spaces where visual art, performance, music, and storytelling come together, inviting audiences to engage with stories across languages, cultures, and generations.
Denotes MAC-Presented Program