BIOGRAPHY

Sepideh Salehi is a multidisciplinary artist born in Tehran. She left Iran to attend Accademia di Belle Arti in Florence, Italy, where she received her MFA in Visual Art and Multimedia. Salehi works in various media and utilizes different processes, including painting, drawing, printmaking, photography, and other media. She weaves personal narrative and post-1979 Tehran cultural history into her work, reflecting on how she, and other women, navigated the shifting social and political landscapes. Some of the venues for her shows include, an exhibition of Iranian women artists titled A Bridge Between You and Everything curated by Shirin Neshat at High Line Nine, NYC, Photo London, Somerset House London, Mirrored Re-Collection at the University of Maryland Stamp Gallery, REVEAL at The Space by Advocartsy LA, Patterning curated by Samantha Friedman at Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY, STRAPPA Rogue Space Chelsea NY, Craft, and Folk Art Museum LA, Tribeca Video Art NY, Centre for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci, Virgiliano Museum and International Bologna Art Fair Italy. Salehi has been on a panel discussion with Shirin Neshat, Middle East Institute, and had talks at the University of Maryland, Loyola University, Pyramid Atlantic Center, and others. She currently lives and works between Washington DC and New York.

 ARTIST STATEMENT

Through my art, I reimagine realities to connect with the past. I mix intuitive painting and collage processes with a conceptual practice rooted in emotions and memories related to separation from home and family. My desire to explore the unknown fuels my interest in transformation. Embedded in my experience as an Iranian woman, concepts of covering up, hiding, and privacy manifest as layered collages, and frame-by-frame animations. To visualize ideas and cultural history I experiment with new and old mediums. My process is iterative—each body of work builds on the other. In my recent series of photographic collages, which picture obscured faces, I explore the connection between body, landscape, and the unknown. The question of how living in different environments shapes our sense of self frequently informs the work, as do ideas of belonging. My drawings emerge from a union between the immediacy of line and the literal properties of writing. I also use traditional Iranian motifs to create patterns through rubbings and printmaking. Pictures and videos I either take myself or source online, document events I process by the reworking source material. Ongoing investigations of longing, memory, and misuse of power lead to new ideas. The resulting body of knowledge grows with my practice—a benefit that is its own reward.

 CV

Born in Tehran-Iran, lives and works between Washington DC and New York

EDUCATION

2007 Accademia di belle Arti of Florence, Italy, M.F.A.,in visual art and multimedia

2005 Accademia di belle Arti of Florence, Italy, B.F.A. in studio art

1998 University of Azad – Tehran, B.A., in English Language and Translation

SOLO & TWO-PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2018 Mirrored Re-Collection, Stamp Gallery at the University of Maryland College Park, MD

REVEAL at The Space by Advocartsy, Los Angeles, CA

2016 STRAPPA, Dialogue & Performance curated by Roya Khadjavi at Rogue Space, New York, NY

2013 TRACES: Drawings in Motion curated by Florence Neal at Kentler International Drawing Space,

Brooklyn, NY (essay by Shoja Azari)

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2021 Art in Isolation curated by Laila Jadallah at the Middle East Institute  in Washington DC

2020 Art in Isolation curated by Laila Jadallah at the Middle East Institute  in Washington DC

Self-reflection curated by Roya Khadjavi at High Line Nine Gallery, NYC

Focus on Flatfiles at Kentler Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

Art Mutters (Alone and United) curated by Sandaleum at Triangle, Brooklyn, NY

2019 A BRIDGE BETWEEN YOU AND EVERYTHING curated by Shirin Neshat at High Line Nine, New York

Art & Social Activism Festival curated by Roya Khadjavi Projects, New York, NY

Photo London curated by Roya Khadjavi Projects, Somerset House, London

Focus Iran 3: Contemporary Photography and Video at Craft Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA

2018 ART BRIEF IV: Iranian Contemporary at SOMArts Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA

VAEFF, Video Art & Experimental Film Festival at Tribeca Film Center & DCTV, NewYork, NY

If So, What? by Roya Khadjavi Projects, San Francisco, LA

2017 The Poetics of Diaspora by Advocartsy, Artnet at The Space, Los Angeles, CA

Official selection of video “Strappa” at the Farhang short film festival, Los Angeles, CA

Patterning curated by Samantha Friedman at Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY

ART BRIEF III: THE (UN)DRAPED WOMAN at Arena 1 Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2016 Peace on Paper, Iran Contemporary Art Biennale at Niavaran Cultural Center, Tehran, Iran

2015 Archimedes Bathtub at Lorimoto Gallery, Ridgewood-NY

Focus Iran: Contemporary Photography and Video at Craft & Folk Art Museum, Los Angeles, CA

2014 The Photography Show by The Committee and AKArt advisory at Site/109, NewYork, NY

ARE WE ALREADY GONE? Artists on the Art of Leaving at Flicker Lab, New York, NY

Video screening as a VAEFF Special Selections at the Cutlog New York, NY Art Fair

Circumstances at Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY

2011 Video screening at Video Art and Experimental Film Festival at Tribeca Cinemas, NewYork

Bilateral Trace: Four Emerging Artists From Iran at Strohl Art Center, Chautauqua, NY

MARKED DIFFERENCES at Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY

2010 WAR & PEACE at Kentler International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, NY

PROXIMITY video screening at PAH! Space, Fribourg, Switzerland

2009 the map is not the territory at the Dumbo Art Center, Brooklyn, NY

Video screening at Centre for Contemporary Art Luigi Pecci, Prato, Italy

2008 Aftermath, video screening at Target Gallery in Torpedo Factory Art Center, VA

One Planet, One Experiment, Woman Made Gallery, Chicago

Food, Arte di Cibarsi - Cibarsi d’ Arte, video screening Palazzo Roffia, San Miniato, Italy

Ondavideo, Donne, Image of the women between photography, film and video art, Pisa, Italy

2007 International Contemporary Art Fair, Europeans young Artists, Mulhouse, France

Echi da Tehran, Iranian Contemporary Artists at Palazzo Comunale, Pistoia, Italy

2006 Opus Liber Project, Book of Art at Academy of Arts and Design, Florence, Italy

Bologna International Contemporary Art Fair, video screening at the Biagiotti Gallery, Italy

2005 Opus Liber Project, Book of Art, at Museum of Virginian Mantova, Italy

Opus Liber Project, Book of Art at Rafaello’s House, Urbino, Italy

LECTURES & TALKS

2020 Art in Isolation panel discussion at the Middle East Institute  in Washington DC (zoom)

2019 Shirin Neshat in Conversation with Iranian women artists at Hemmerdinger Hall, NYU, NY

2019 Artist Talk at Pyramid Atlantic Center, MD

2019 The Only Divisions that Matter Now: A roundtable discussion at Loyola University Baltimore, MD

2018 Artist Lecture in conjunction with exhibition Mirrored Re-Collection, University of Maryland, MD

SELECTED AWARDS, PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

2020 Paris for Children, New York, workshop “Introduction to Modern and Contemporary Iranian Artist

2019 Denbo Fellowship at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, Hyattsville, Maryland

2014 - 2017 NYFA, Mentoring Program for immigrant Artists, New York, Mentor

2013 - 2016 Pardis for Children, New York, language and Art teacher

2013 - 2016 Asia Society, New York, workshop "Persian New Year Family Day", co-presented by Pardis for Children

Asia Society, New York, workshop "Passport to Asia"

Asia Society, New York, workshop "Iran Modern", co-presented by Pardis for Children

2006 Accademia di Belle Arti of Florence, Italy, a teaching fellowship at Laboratorio di pittura