Soheila Sokhanvari (Persian: سهیلا سخنوری; born 1964)[1] is an Iranian-born British multidisciplinary visual artist.[2][3][4] She is known for her drawings and egg-tempera paintings, often featuring her memories, or based on family photographs.[5] Sokhanvari now lives in Cambridge, where she is an associate artist at the Wysing Arts Centre, a contemporary arts residency centre.[1]
Soheila Sokhanvari | |
---|---|
سهیلا سخنوری | |
Born | 1964 (age 59–60) |
Education | University of Cambridge, Anglia Ruskin University, Chelsea College of Art and Design, Goldsmiths' College |
Occupation | Multidisciplinary visual artist |
Known for | Painting, drawing, installation art |
Movement | Magic realism |
Website | Official website |
Biography
editSoheila Sokhanvari was born in 1964 in Shiraz, Pahlavi Iran.[1] She left Iran in 1978 at the age of 14 before the Iranian Revolution, to study in the United Kingdom.[2] After she moved away from her family and her homeland, she found greater importance in her family photos.[6] She is a dual national with citizenship in Iran and in the UK.[7]
She graduated with a degree (1986) in biochemistry from University of Cambridge.[8] Sokhanvari also has a degree (2005) in fine art and art history from Anglia Ruskin University in East Anglia, United Kingdom;[8] a postgraduate diploma from Chelsea College of Art and Design (now Chelsea College of Arts) in London; and she has a MFA degree from Goldsmiths' College.[1]
Sokhanvari's early work featured crude oil, and eventually expanded to sepia drawings of family and pre-Iranian Revolution.[6] Her more recent artwork is made with brightly colored egg tempera on vellum (calf skin) and she uses a squirrel hair brush (which are reminiscent of the materials used in Persian miniatures).[6] She uses old family photographs as subjects for her paintings, and she heavily utilizes patterns.[6] She has also painted the feminist entertainers and icons of Iran as a subject.[6][9][10][11]
Sokhanvari's solo exhibitions include "Rebel Rebel" (2022–2023) at Curve Gallery, Barbican Centre in London;[3][12][13] and "We Could Be Heroes..." (2023–2024) at Heong Gallery in Downing College, Cambridge.[6] Her artwork can be found in museum collections including at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art,[14] and National Gallery of Victoria.[15]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c d "Iranian artist Soheila Sokhanvari presents a site-specific installation at Barbican Art Gallery". ArtDaily.cc. October 11, 2022. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ a b "Soheila Sokhanvari: the former scientist using 'alchemy' to bring together Iranian and Western culture". The Art Newspaper. 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ a b Jones, Jonathan (2022-10-07). "Soheila Sokhanvari: Rebel Rebel review – vivacious paintings of liberated Iranian womanhood". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ "Iranian women show joyful defiance in Rebel Rebel at the Barbican". The Financial Times. October 12, 2022. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ Makari-Aghdam, Sara (2017-10-15). "Soheila Sokhanvari". Frieze. No. 191. ISSN 0962-0672. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ a b c d e f Pound, Cath (2023-11-22). "The Iranian artist using painting to honor her lost homeland". CNN. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ Halasa, Malu (2023-09-12). Woman Life Freedom: Voices and Art from the Women's Protests in Iran. Saqi Books. pp. 39–41. ISBN 978-0-86356-977-7.
- ^ a b "Woman, Life, Art: In Conversation with Haydeh Changizian and Soheila Sokhanvari". SOAS University of London. 2023-02-09. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ "Soheila Sokhanvari Honors the Untold Stories of Iran's Feminist Icons". W Magazine. 2022-10-07. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ "Artist Soheila Sokhanvari honours the untold stories of Iran's feminist icons". France 24. 2022-10-11. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ "My Art Celebrates Iran's Feminist Rebels; The Protests In The Country Are Giving Me Hope". British Vogue. Condé Nast. 2022-10-05. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ Shahandeh, Katy (2022-10-21). "Rebel, Rebel: Iranian women's resistance across generations". The New Arab. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ "'Time for A Feminist Revolution in Iran,' Says Artist Soheila Sokhanvari". Kayhan Life. 2022-11-06. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ "Party People". LACMA Collections. Retrieved 2023-12-11.
- ^ "Soheila Sokhanvari". NGV. Retrieved 2023-12-11.