Dr. Aytak Dibavar (آی تک دیباور) is a queer Iranian artist and scholar working across printmaking, storytelling, and theatre. Their work moves between presence and absence, tracing shadows, silences, and the marks they leave behind. Their visual art includes the series Shadows of Nothingness, Germinations in Media Res, and Soft Utopia. Their play The Little Black Fish, which archives queer and trans Iranian experiences in Iran and the diaspora, recently completed a tour, and they are now developing In Sparrows We Trust, a theatre project about queer exile, solitude, and living through a world ending.

Aytak is also a scholar of transnational feminisms and queer theory. They have two forthcoming monographs: Shadows of Nothingness: Queering Silence and Absence in Global Politics (Columbia University Press) and Queer Unworlding of/in Exile: Ruminations on Soft Utopia (Routledge), both accompanied by their monotype prints. They received the 2024 International Studies Association LGBTQ+ Outstanding Scholar Award.

Aytak is an Assistant Professor of Gender and Sexuality Studies at Bowdoin College and they make home across three cities: Portland (ME), Toronto, and Paris.