Valentine Valero: The Iranian-French model trailblazing in runway and research

Valentine Newsha Valero, a dynamic Iranian-French model, archivist, researcher, and artist, is a striking embodiment of the convergence of art and socio-political commentary. She’s walked in shows for Marco Rambaldi and Gestuz, been featured in British Vogue and GQ Middle East, graced the cover of L’Officiel Ibiza, and has a host of campaigns under her belt. She runs with Revolt Model Agency, the Squad Management, Uno Models, and Monster Management, but she also models a life dedicated to research and activism, and with a strut that speaks volumes. Based in Marseille, Valentine’s work—be it in high fashion or ethnography—is conducted with an intentionality and worldly consciousness that sets her apart in the scene. 

Valentine’s artistic ventures are rooted in her heritage and governed by her rampant curiosity. The model is especially engaged with ideas surrounding identity and collective memory—particularly the Persian carpet, a SWANA home staple that bears centuries-old threads of cultural import. Dredging through the filaments of her own cultural identity, Valentine seeks to proclaim it in addition to understanding it. “I think that everything I do is linked and fed by my origins and my identity,” Valentine explains to Dazed MENA. “A need to affirm it, not to forget it, and even perhaps sometimes to impose it.”

Her career as a model, while more of a fortuity (she explains that she had been far from the world of fashion), also offered her a form of self-expression, along with a platform to express her artistic vision. She wields her visibility with refreshing intentionality, driven by her incentive to dispel myths about her people. Her Instagram account is a love letter to SWANA arts and culture, bursting with film stills and resurrected archival research–but she also seeks to tackle the impact of local issues from her home base in France, including the rise of Islamophobia and racism. Valentine is an avid believer in the pen over the sword: “Education and access to information are valuable weapons, and we are lucky in our time with social networks to be able to have a voice; I try to use it as much as I can.”

Myriad influences orbit in Valentine’s creative consciousness. “I try to inspire and nourish myself with what I call my ‘spiritual families,’ which are many artists, filmmakers, rockstars, politicians or activists who give meaning to my life through what they have created,” Valentine shares. “I have my own universe which is that of my identity, my relationship with carpets, poetry, my art. And around them are all these things which cling to it, forming a constant fresco of curiosity.”

Valentine calls for the SWANA scene to shed its timidity and confront the pressing realities imposed upon its identity. She suggests that both our indignation at the circumstances and our authentic expression are valid so downplaying it all to pander to the West or remaining placid with constraints would be minimising our worth and impact. “We cannot deny or ignore in recent years that our existence is political,” Valentine affirms. “On a smaller scale, we have incredible talents and independent institutions—artists, authors, and filmmakers—who are very committed.”

However, she notes that, unfortunately, the broader artistic and cultural landscape in the region remains constrained, either limited by external regulations or conforming to a Western artistic framework that imposes cliches and outdated narratives rooted in orientalism and colonisation. “I hope that the scene will evolve with less of a desire to please the Western gaze,” she states. “I know that it is a difficult time and that asserting clear political or social positions in art can be a huge obstacle to career development, but as long as the big institutions do not change, this will always be the case. I have faith in independent cultural actors; it is in others that I hope to see a change in because it would help everyone.”

As she embarks on new projects, including venturing into the world of film and potentially publishing her own book, Valentine is determined to move away from solitary practices towards collaborative endeavours. “I am like a dragon in his cave guarding treasure,” she remarks. “It’s a big challenge for me to have to write and work on a project knowing that I won’t be the only actor and that it will take teamwork and trust to make it happen. It’s both very creepy and exciting.”