Rafiee embarked on her career as an artist in 2001, when she participated in a group exhibition in Tehran. Since then, she has exhibited her work in several group exhibitions exhibitions across Iran,[4] as well as in Dubai,[5][6] Austria,[7] France, Italy, the United States, Denmark, and Armenia.
Rafiee initiated her curatorial career with the "Calling Project" in 2013, facilitating an exchange exhibition between British and Iranian artists. Since then, she has curated numerous exhibitions in Iran, Dubai, Austria, and Italy.
Notable among her projects is Good Morning... Good Night. Five artists and a curator from Iran held at the Ducal Palace, Mantua,[15][16] where she served as both curator, and wrote the accompanying exhibition book. It exhibited works from Iranian female artists, including Parvaneh Etemadi, Farah Ossouli, Nargess Hashemi, and Rozita Sharafjahan.[16] The same exhibition was invited to take place at the Castello del Monferrato in Casale Monferrato in Italy.[17][18]
In 2008, she co-founded Bread & Salt Projects, a curatorial project as well as an extended archive and collection of Iranian modern and contemporary art in order to preserve the documents of the Iranian modern and contemporary art.
Rafiee has been invited to give lectures or participate in panel discussions about the Iranian modern and contemporary art by the British Museum, the Iran Heritage Foundation, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
Selfdom / a personal project, 2011, with Yashar Samimi Mofakham, Tehran, Iran[citation needed]
Tehran Calling: London, 2013, with Yashar Samimi Mofakham, LPS, London, UK[21]
Parviz Tanavoli’s Exercise Writing: 50 years of Iranian Pop Art, 2016, with Yashar Samimi Mofakham, Shahrivar Gallery, Tehran, Iran[22]
Parviz Tanavoli’s Universal Icons: 50 years of Iranian Pop Art, 2016, with Yashar Samimi Mofakham, Shahrivar Gallery, Tehran, Iran[22]
RTL:LTR, an exchange exhibition between Iran and Austria (right to left, left to right), with Yashar Samimi Mofakham, Peter Assmann, and CO:K; traveling exhibit to the Galerie Forum in Wels, Austria, 2016; the Artmark Galerie in Wien, Austria, 2016; the Lajevardi Foundation, in Tehran, Iran, 2016; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Isfahan, in Iran, 2016–2017[23]
Good Morning... Good Night. Cinque artiste e una curatrice dall'Iran (English:Good Morning... Good Night. Five artists and a curator from Iran), 2018, Castello Di Moferrato, Casale Monferrato, Italy[24]
Good Morning... Good Night. Cinque artiste e una curatrice dall'Iran (English:Good Morning... Good Night. Five artists and a curator from Iran), 2018, Palazzo Ducale di Mantova, Mantova, Italy[16]
Golestaneh, Ali (2012). Tehran Art: A Popular Revolution. Contemporary Art Publications. ISBN9789948164746.
Noyce, Richard (2014). Printmaking Off the Beaten Track. Bloomsbury Visual Arts. ISBN978-1408156728.
Porter, Venetia (2016). Iranian Voices Catalogue. British Museum.
Porter, Venetia; Tripp, Charles; Morris, Natasha (2020). Reflections: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa. British Museum. ISBN978-0714111957.
^ abSeaman, Anna (25 October 2014). "Bowls, plates and tulips: artists remember Iran's stolen youth". The National. Retrieved 25 March 2024. The artwork, Untitled 2014, is part of a group show from husband and wife team Yashar Samimi Mofakham and Tarlan Rafiee, Tehran-based artists who have created separate pieces for the show, but whose practice is very much interlinked.