I am an artist born in Iran on 1985 and based in Paris since 2011.
My practice unfolds through photography, video, drawing and installation. The time I spent working alongside cinema directors has influenced the way I work with images, and also my interest in questioning their construction, diffusion and reception. I aspire to make those processes visible but also make my own visual fictions out of images I gather on the Internet, news websites or from my own photography practice. I am interested in ambiguities and transitional states more than affirmations. In the same way, I seek the « loose links » between artistic techniques, and the poetic flaws coming out from the marriage or mediums excite me a lot, like black holes opening on new, undiscovered horizons.
although my practice is informed by my story growing up in Iran and migrating to Europe, it is not a direct theme in my work as I have been trying to avoid the pitfall of “self-exoticism”. However, the paradoxical understanding of the image I am interested in, in-between critical distance and fetishisation, definitely comes from the complex and disillusioned relationship I have with the country I am from.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2022 • Œil pour œil, Frac Île-de-France Le Plateau (La Vitrine), Paris, France.
2018 • Discreetly Living Behind Your Face, Galerie 52, Folkwang-Uni, Essen, Germany.
2018 • Discreetly Living Behind Your Face, Galerie des petits carreaux, Saint-Briac, France.
2017 • Telesm, kultur kapellen, Pictoplasma festival, Berlin, Germany.
duo EXHIBITIONS
2011 • Nature Regulate, Mohsen Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2010 • Aklil-al-Molook, Mohsen Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2007 • Exopalasht, Azad Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2006 • Related-Unrelated, Tehran Artists House, Tehran, Iran.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2022 • Dip into the Bleu, Maison Touchard, Luxembourg, Luxembourg.
2021 • Memento, Zeto project space, Paris, France.
2020 • En Être, 70ème édition de Jeune Création, Romainville, France.
2020 • Le radeau des cimes, Villa Belleville, Paris, France.
2019 • En Cas de Pluie (hors les murs de Jeune Création), Friche étex, Paris, France.
2018 • ArtvilniusArt art fair, Vilnius, Lithuania.
2016 • Face à Face, Association La Source, La Guéroulde, France.
2014 • Transparency, Galerie des petits carreaux, Sain-Briac, France.
2013 • Cousu Main-le temps passé, Galerie des petits carreaux, Paris, France.
2013 • Art On Paper, Art On Paper art fair, Bruxelles, Belgium.
2013 • Paysages, Galerie des petits carreaux, Sain-Briac, France.
2013 • Interdit aux mineurs, Galerie des petits carreaux, Paris, France.
2012 • Slick Art Fair Paris 7ème édition, Le Garage(haut-marais), Paris, France.
2012 • Jaunes, Galerie des petits carreaux, Paris, France.
2012 • AnimaFac Festival, Grande Halle de La Villette, Paris, France.
2010 • Contemporary Illustration, Saba Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2010 • Window, Mohsen Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2010 • Obligatory military service, Mohsen Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2009 • Nowruz, Shirin Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2007 • 9th visual arts biennial, Contemporary Art Museum, Tehran, Iran.
2007 • Small Drawing, Ebnesina Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2006 • House of Drawing 2nd Gathering, House of Drawing, Tehran, Iran.
2006 • Limited Access, Azad Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
2006 • House of Drawing 1st Gathering, House of Drawing, Tehran, Iran.
2006 • 8th visual arts biennial, Contemporary Art Museum, Tehran, Iran.
2005 • First Poster, Honar Art Gallery, Tehran, Iran.
RESIDENCIES
2022 • SHIFT, Programme d’accompagnement d’artistes (AMAC), Paris, France.
2021 • Drawing Factory avec Cnap, Paris, France.
2020 • La Box ENSA, Bourges, France.
2019 • Villa Belleville, Paris, France.
2018 • Galerie des petits carreaux, Saint-Briac, France.
2017 • Association La Source, La Guéroulde, France.
2016 • Association La Source, La Guéroulde, France.
2014 • Forum des images with Arte, Paris, France.
GRANTS
2021 • Production grant for a Masterclass with Wim Wenders,
Institut Français / Goethe Institut, France, Allemagne.
2020 • CNAP (Centre National des Arts Plastiques, The French National Contemporary Art Collection), permanent collection for Lumen series, Paris, France.
2019 • CNL Bourse aux auteurs for the book Les Secrets de Sinavar.
Talks
2021 • Talk at ENSA(école de beaux-arts) Bourges, France.
2018 • Talk at Folkwang-University with Gisela Bullacher, Essen, Germany.
2018 • Parrain de la Nuit de la lecture, Ministry of Culture, Paris, France.
2017 • Intervention for Little Villette festival at La Villette, Paris, France.
2017 • Talk at Bétonsalon, Center for Art and Research, Paris France.
2017 • Conference at Pictoplasma Festival, Berlin, Germany.
2016 • Intervention at Centre Pompidou on Abbas Kiarostami, Paris, France.
BOOKS (AS AUTEUR/ILLUSTRATOR)
• La Petite Vague Bleue, published at Gallimard Jeunesse.
• Les Secrets de Sinavar et autres Contes d’Irân, published at Gallimard Jeunesse.
• De Lamour, Fragments d’un Discours Scientifique, published at Actes sud.
• Terres et Hommes, published at Actes sud-Junior.
• Les Poulpes, futurs maitres du monde, published at Actes sud-Junior.
• L’incroyable aventure de la génétique, published at Nathan.
• Sonnette entre Chien et Loup, published at Gallimard Jeunesse.
• Mes Amis Monstres, published at Actes sud-Junior.
• Un Arbre pour Ami, published at GallimardJeunesse.
PUBLICATIONS
• Contemporary Iranian Art: New Perspectives by Hamid Keshmirshekan.
• Signing Tehran – Eine Designreporteage by Julia Kahl.
• Urban Iran by BirAnna Olson.
PRESS
• Interview Magazine • Kaltbult Magazine • Libération • Transmettre le cinema • Étapes • Premiere • Le Telegramme • France Culture • France Inter • Piiaf • Doolittle • Milk Magazine • Le journal des arts • L’Œil Magazine • The AOI • Art Tomorrow • Herfeh Honarmand • Etemad.
COLLABORATIONS
— Maison Margiela for communication on 2022 collection.
— Zaman books (Morad Montazami) on exhibitions:
ARABÉCÉDAIRE (2018)
Dusted Waters (2018)
Mohamed Melehi and the Casablanca Art School (2019)
— Centre Pompidou (Clément Chéroux & Sylvie Pras) on
Jafar Panahi, Images/Nuages (2016).
— Jafar Panahi on
Ceci n’est pas un film (2011)
Pardé (2013)
Taxi Téhéran (2015)
Trois visages (2017)
Hidden (2019)
— Abbas Kiarostami on Les Murs (2009) exhibition at Paris gallery.
— Sadegh Tirafkan on his exhibition (2008) at Assar gallery.